Patent Amendments ©(Part II of II)

Taiwan IP Updates ĄV February 2026

By Lyndon

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TIPO Amends Guidelines for Virtual Goods

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has announced amendments to the guidelines and illustrative examples for counting goods and specific retail services to clarify how virtual goods and related retail and wholesale services should be counted. The aim of this update is to keep pace with the rise of digital goods verified by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and virtual products in the metaverse. The updated guidelines now classify multifunctional software as a single item, preventing double counting, while at the same time streamlining the examination process. For goods verified by NFTs versus those without NFT verification, counting must be conducted separately due to differences in their nature and transaction structure, ensuring fairness and consistency. The amendments also clarify how the terms retail, wholesale and retail and wholesale should be interpreted, establishing uniform counting standards across applications.

TIPO Releases Studies on Patent Possibilities for Drone Power Systems and Silicon Photonics Packaging Materials

TIPO commissioned the Patent Search Center (PSC) to complete two patent landscape studies in 2025 – one on drone power systems and another on advanced packaging materials for silicon photonic components. The analysis reports provide strategic insight for industry and R&D institutions. The study on drone power systems highlights the wide-ranging applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and notes that power technologies are a critical determinant of market competitiveness. Taiwan ranks seventh worldwide in patent filings in this field. The report recommends strengthening licensing, joint R&D, or consortium-based collaboration to better connect academic research with industrial deployment and to build a complete invention to market value patent chain. The analysis on advanced packaging materials for silicon photonic components points to Taiwan’s strengths in electronic packaging and photonic interconnect technologies. It recommends proactively securing patents in key technologies and pursuing international collaboration to overcome technical bottlenecks and reinforce Taiwan’s global leadership in semiconductors.

AI Drives IP in Taiwan According to Recent Survey

Artificial intelligence and big data have taken a central role in driving innovation in Taiwan. The 2025 Taiwan Startup Ecosystem Survey focused on how startups are applying AI in practice, examining the specific technologies they deploy and the business scenarios in which they are used. The survey also analyzed how investors are assessing Taiwanese startups in the AI era. The survey stated that more than 80% of startups interviewed were involved in AI-related fields, showing that Taiwan startups apply AI as a key tool for operations and product innovation, as they have keen market awareness. The survey also found that the top three overseas market targets for startups are Japan (51.2%), the United States (27.3%) and China (23.4%), reflecting that nearby and culturally familiar markets remain the preferred choice. On the investment side, investment institutions showed the strongest interest in AI and big data, followed by the biotechnology and medical sectors. Among AI-focused investments, predictive analytics attracted the most attention at 36.4%, followed by visual recognition at 21.8% and generative AI at 20%. It was noted that AI and big data are being increasingly applied across different startup sectors, primarily as tools for product and service design rather than as standalone technologies, reflecting an emphasis on embedding AI into existing industries. The report highlighted a shift in corporate-startup collaboration from simple capital investment toward innovation-driven strategic partnerships, stimulating a rise in IP work.

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