Taiwan IP Updates  ¡V December 2021

By Lyndon 

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Updated Guidelines for Architectural Designs and Interior Designs Issued by TIPO

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office updated the Notes on Design Patent Specification and Drawings in May 2021.  Here are some of the most notable guidelines concerning architectural designs and interior designs:

1. Where an application is filed for an architectural design or an interior design, the claimed subject matters shall be straightforwardly recited in the title of the design, e.g. buildings, bridges, kitchens, bedrooms etc.
2. Where an application is filed for a design in part, the claimed portion of the design shall be recited in the title, e.g. kitchen, or part of a kitchen.
3. Because architectural design and interior design are creations with spatial stereoscopic sense, the applicant ought to depict the stereoscopic appearance in order to highlight the overall visual effect. Therefore, a perspective view should be included in the drawings.
4. To show the characteristics of an internal space, it is acceptable to omit part of a wall or to use a section view.
5. An orthographic projection view presented by an internal viewing angle and each view should be marked as, e.g. the front view of an interior viewing angle, and so forth in order to avoid confusion with the six side views of a general viewing angle

The notes published by the I.P. Office are accompanied with example drawings and provide a useful tool for the applicant to prepare proper specifications and drawings.

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TIPO introduces Industrial Collaborative Patent Examination Interview Pilot Program

Starting from November 1, 2021, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office implemented the Industrial Collaborative Patent Examination Interview Pilot Program for a one year trial period.  To be eligible, an applicant must have an invention patent application that is related to advanced technologies.  The application must also have a notification of entering substantive examination and also that no office action or written decision of patent examination has been issued yet.  Filing for an interview for two or more invention patent applications is allowed if the applicants involved are the same, and there is a limit of up to 10 invention patent applications for this program.  Advanced technologies are defined as inventions in the fields of stem cell-based regenerative medicines, medical care informatics, Micro LED display, neural networks, 3nm semiconductor processes, twisted bilayer graphene, third-generation semi-conductor materials, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, blockchain, 3D printing, as well as other specific technologies to be determined by examiners on a case-by case basis.  An interview will be initiated by an examiner if the examiner decides that the patent examination is related to one of the advanced technology categories, or if the applicant has already applied for an interview formally and the invention fits the abovementioned criteria.  The program is intended to improve the process whereby the patent examiners can understand the technical contents of the invention patent applications more efficiently, which in turn will enable the applicants to receive their patents more rapidly.

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TIPO Publishes Revision of the Article-by-Article Interpretation of the Trademark Act

In 2004, in order to promote public awareness, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office published the Article-by-Article Interpretation of the Trademark Act and has continued to revise it in response to further amendments to relevant laws.  The latest revision happened recently in September 2021.  The infringement identifying process in Articles 7 and 9 of the Regulations Governing Customs Measures in Protecting the Rights and Interests of a Trademark has been amended.  Also, the Principles for Examining Trademarks Which Include the Cross Device, Operational Directions for Third-Party Observations on Trademark Registration Applications, and Examination Guidelines on Procedural Examination of Applications for Trademark Registration have all been established or amended.  The reason for the revisions has been due to trademark related laws being changed considerably over the last few years.  Some key points in the updates are topics such as non-traditional trademark types, trademark distinctiveness assessment, factors determining likelihood of confusion, proprietor of the earlier used trademark, and the exhaustion doctrine.

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