The proposed changes will include animals and plants as patentable subject-matter, new regulations relating to public health issues, and amended time limits and grace periods.

A further aim is to strengthen both patent examination and patent protection procedures. The draft proposals were reviewed by the executive branch of the government ("Executive Yuan") in December 2009 and the legislative process has started.

A bilingual Chinese-English version of the draft amendments can be downloaded via a link at the bottom of the Taiwan Patent Office's (TIPO) official Chinese website: http://www.tipo.gov.tw/ch/AllInOne_Show.aspx?path=2769&guid=45f2e9ed-6a50-488e-8514-47a78e3cc320&lang=zh-tw

The Taiwan Patent Office (TIPO) has its own set of procedures based on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) system to accelerate the speed of patent examination. Although Taiwan is currently not part of any PPH agreements with other patent offices, applicants can now submit documents relating to applications recently published or soon to be published in other countries to TIPO in order to help speed up the examination procedure. Following a one-year trial period, TIPO has now introduced a number of amendments to its accelerated procedure. These amendments entered into force on 1 January 2010.

For more information about the amendments to the accelerated examination procedure, see this notice on TIPO's English website: http://www.tipo.gov.tw/ch/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=4269

The Taiwan Patent Office (TIPO) has enhanced the functionalities of its free TWPAT database. Backward and forward citations are now available on the Chinese search interface for patents and utility models published after 1 January 2008. In addition, new search fields have been added and the options for display of the results have been extended. 

The TWPAT database is available at: http://twpat.tipo.gov.tw/tipotwoc/tipotwkm (Chinese interface) and http://twpat.tipo.gov.tw/tipotwoc/tipotwekm (English interface).  

Detailed explanations of all new features are available at: http://twpat.tipo.gov.tw/tipotwo/help/doc/training02.htm (Chinese only). 

In addition to Japan, China, Korea and India, the FAQ section on the EPO’s "East meets West - Information exchange on Asian patents" now includes answers to frequently asked questions concerning patents and patent information in Chinese Taipei (TW).

The new "Links" section on the "East meets West - information exchange on Asian patents" directs you to websites providing background information and reference material in English. The links are tagged under the following terms: patent laws, examination guidelines, fee schedules and annual reports. We will continue adding links to ensure that the new section on "East meets West" remains a useful resource for all your Asian search needs. The new Links section is at: http://eastmeetswest.european-patent-office.org/links

On 26 August 2008, the Taiwan Patent Office (TIPO) launched an e-filing system for patents and trade marks, which can be accessed at the following URL: http://tiponet.tipo.gov.tw/home/. In order to encourage applicants to use online instead of paper filing, the application fee has been reduced by approximately EUR 13 per document for patents and EUR 6.5 for trade marks. By using the online filing system, applicants can save about 16 % of the application fee for patents and up to 10% for trade mark applications. For the time being, applications can only be submitted during TIPO's service hours (Monday to Friday between 8.00 and 17.00 hrs). However, TIPO is planning to implement a 24/7 service in the near future.

Further details are available in a news item at: http://www.tipo.gov.tw/en/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=3234 (English) and http://www.tipo.gov.tw/ch/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=2926 (Chinese) and in a section on e-filing on TIPO's website at the following URL: http://www.tipo.gov.tw/ch/AllInOne_Show.aspx?path=2902&guid=2fdc0ec7-fd02-4746-b9b7-c0a827386db8&lang=zh-tw (Chinese).