9 May, 2019
The Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to the Patent Act (the “Amendment”) on April 16, 2019. Highlights of the Amendment include:
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A divisional application can be filed within a time period of three (3) months (30 days under the current law) from receipt of the notice of allowance no matter whether the application is granted during the preliminary examination or reexamination stage. The foregoing also applies to utility model patents.
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An invalidation petitioner must submit supplementally briefs within three months from the date when the invalidation action is filed, and delayed submissions will not be examined. Also, limitations are imposed on patentees who wish to amend the claims during invalidation proceeding.
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Post-grant amendments for a utility model patent is permissible only during the invalidation proceeding, court proceeding, or when there is a pending application for the technical evaluation report. Further, the amendment shall be subject to substantive review regardless whether there is an invalidation action filed against the patent or not.
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The term of a design patent will be 15 years, extended from 12 years under the current law. (Thomas Liu, Patent Department)
For further information, please contact:
Thomas Liu, Tsar & Tsai Law Firm
Patent@TsarTsai.com.tw
