IP Resources

Amendment to Taiwan’s “Design Patent Substantive Examination”

July 13, 2021 The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) in Taiwan announced an amendment to “Volume 3–Design Patent Substantive Examination” of the Patent Examination Guidelines (hereinafter referred to as “Guidelines”) on 29 September 2020. The amended Guidelines took effect on 1 November 2020. The main key points of the revision are as follows: 1. A specific section, “Description of Design Section”, is added: applicant uses this specific section to describe the relevant drawing wherein applicant may stipulate the disclosure of the colors. Applicant may specify in this Description of Design:” The subject design is represented by black-and white photos (computer generated drawing in grayscale”. The tone shown in the drawings only helps to show the contour of the subject design,

CHINA: Impacts from New Amended China Patent Law

March 23, 2021 On October 17, 2020, China’s Patent Law (“CPL”) was reviewed after 12 years, and this new amendment will take effect on June 1, 2021. Major amendments to China Patent Law Design patents:             1.- Definition of designs has been amended include: new design of the shape in whole or in part, pattern, or combination of the color with shape and pattern, which are fit for industrial application.             2.- Under the revised version of the law, partial designs are also patentable.             3.- The protection of design patent is prolonged from 10 to 15 years which is aligned with the protection according to Hague Agreement. Patent term extension – China’s phase one agreement commitments             Under the

Measures on Regulating Patent Application

March 2, 2021 On February 10th, 2021, CNIPA releases “Measures upon regulating Patent Application” (draft for comment). This draft defines the term of Patent abnormal and its punishments. Abnormal Patent Application behavior is defined as:             – Simultaneously or successively submitting multiple patent applications that are obviously the same invention-creation, or are essentially formed by simple combinations of different invention-creation features or elements;              – The submitted patent application contains fabricated, forged or altered inventions and creations, experimental data or technical effects, or plagiarism, simple replacement, patchwork of existing technology or existing designs, etc.;             – The invention-creation of the submitted patent application is obviously inconsistent with the applicant’s actual research and development capabilities and resource conditions;             – The

China: the end of Patent Subsidies

February 25, 2021 On Jan. 13, 2021, USPTO published a new report that discusses the influence from the high rate of Chinese patent and trademark filings, which are from the Chinese government subsidies and other non-market factors.  The volume of trademark and patent applications filed in China has outpaced that of global competitors in the pastas years. In China, however, non-market factors, including subsidies, government mandates, bad-faith trademark applications, and resulting countermeasures, substantially contribute to trademark and patent application activities. Absent consideration of the role of non-market factors, cross-border comparisons based on the raw number of trademark and patent applications risk overstating brand creation and innovation activity in China. These non-market factors are also undermining domestic and foreign registries, stretching

TAIWAN – Utility Model Examination & Administration Remedy Procedure Flowchart

TAIWAN – Invention Examination & Administration Remedy Procedure Flowchart

TAIWAN – Design Examination & Administration Remedy Procedure Flowchart

TAIWAN – Trademark Examination & Administration Remedy Procedure Flowchart