On December 27, 2018, the Executive Yuan passed a draft amendment to the provisions of the Patent Act. The amendments are summarized as follows:

(1) Expanding the scope and time limit for requesting division after approval of a patent application

The current Patent Act only allows for request for division of an invention patent application filed within 30 days after preliminary examination. The draft amendment allows the request for division to be filed within 3 months after the notice of allowance being served. Such amendment may also be applied to utility model patent applications.

(2) Enhancing the effectiveness of patent examination

After an invalidation action has been filed, the petitioner of an invalidation action may file supplemental arguments or evidence or both, and the patentee may also continuously file corrections to the patent claims. Consequently, the examination of the invalidation action may be delayed. To accelerate the examination of invalidation actions, the amended Patent Act allows the petitioner to supplement the grounds for invalidation or evidence within 1 month from the filing date of the invalidation action. Such deadline can be extended to 3 months from the filing date of the invalidation action. Any supplemental grounds or evidence filed after the time limit will not be examined and considered. The timing for filing corrections to a patent is also amended accordingly.

(3) Amendment to the period of filing corrections to granted utility model patent applications and the examination thereof

Utility model patent applications are not subject to substantive examination. In order to avoid any third party's rights and public interests being influenced by the changes of the scope of a granted utility model patent application, the timing for filing amendments to granted utility model patent applications is limited. Such amendments can be filed only after an invalidation action is filed and pending, after a technical report is requested or during a lawsuit in which a substantive issue is raised. Furthermore, substantive examination of such amendment will be conducted.

(4) Extending the patent term of design patents from 12 years to 15 years

Extending the protection of design patent rights will help the development of the design industry in Taiwan, create additional values of the products in industrial design, and increase the protection of industrial innovation achievements.

(5) Solving the problem of storage space of patent files

The space for storing patent files is insufficient. Because there are currently more than 1.2 million patent files, the matter of storage space is a serious problem. Therefore, the current permanent preservation regulations will be applied only to those files having preservation value, and all others will be preserved for 30 years or less.