Taiwan Design

According to the provisions of the Taiwan Patent Act, an application for a design patent shall be filed for each design. The designer of a design may apply for patent protection to the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs on his own or by entrusting a patent attorney or patent agent, and after examining that the patent requirements are met, the patent right shall be approved and announced, and the designer may enjoy the exclusive right to protect his or her creative invention or R&D results for a certain period of time.

　In addition to the abolition of criminal penalties and oppositions in Taiwan's patent system, design patents still have at least the following characteristics:

First-to-file principle: that is, if there are more than two patent applications for the same design, the patent will be granted to the first applicant, regardless of the priority of the design;

The principle of one design, one application: A design patent application can only be applied for a single appearance to a single article, the so-called "one design, one application". In other words, if a design reveals two or more appearances, or a design specifies two or more articles, it is not possible to combine them in one application.

The so-called single appearance is applied to a single article, and according to Taiwan's practice, there are two special application forms: (1) change design, (2) Group sequential design, etc.
Single appearance refers to the creation of a specific shape, pattern, color or combination thereof of the design for which the patent is sought.
A single object refers to an independent design and creation object that has a specific function for a specific purpose.
If it is necessary for the constituent units of an article to be used together for that particular purpose, the combination of the constituent units may be treated as one article.

　For example, items that have a matching relationship between the strap and the watch body, the cap and the body of the pen, the cap and the bottle, the teacup and the lid, the telephone base and the telephone, the hidden buckle of the clothes, etc., the items that have a matching relationship between the left and right pairs, the pair of shoes, the pair of socks, the pair of gloves and other items that have a left-right pair, the chess of the pair, Since it is necessary for each of the constituent units to be combined for the specific purpose, the whole composed of all the units is regarded as one article, which meets the requirements of one design and one application.

Once the application for a design patent is completed and accepted, it will immediately proceed directly to the examination stage, and the examination committee will examine the appearance of the items disclosed in the description and schema of the design drawings, and if the design for which the patent is applied for is unclear due to the violation of one design and one application, the applicant will be notified by a notice of office action to apply for the division or amendment of the specification or diagram within a time limit, or if the requirements of "group design" are met, it may also be amended to "group design". If the application for resumption, division or amendment is not made within the time limit, it will be rejected on the grounds that it violates the provisions of one design and one application.
Public review system: After the approval and public announcement, the patent can be filed within the validity period of the patent right. Combine the filing of objections with the filing of statutory causes, so that the public can file administrative remedies with a single filing system
Obligation to mark the patent: The patentee or the licensee shall not claim damages if the patent mark and patent right number are affixed to the patented article or packaging, and if the patent right is infringed by others without knowing that it is a patent because of the failure to attach such a mark, the patentee or the licensee shall not claim damages. However, for articles that have not been patented, they shall not be arbitrarily marked with a patent.

Type of patent	Design patents
Objects of Protection	The shape, pattern or color of an article (including the part of an article) or a combination thereof, through the creation of visual requirements
Entity Review	The application then proceeds to the substantive review process
Term of Rights	15 years from the filing date (effective from November 2019)
Priority	Within 6 months from the earliest priority date

Cases of design patent protection objects:

　The formalities of applying for a design patent are mainly carried out in the order of design application, formal examination, substantive examination and public announcement. The term of the design patent right shall expire within 15 years from the filing date.

1. Application

To apply for a utility model patent, in principle, it is necessary to prepare two types of necessary documents such as the application form and the specification and supporting documents. The former is the application, description and diagram, while the latter is such as identity document, power of attorney, priority document, etc.
Once the required documents have been submitted, the filing date can be secured and the next stage of the process can be proceeded.

2. Formal review

The preparation of the application, specification, diagram, etc. shall comply with the provisions of the Patent Law.
The filing date is the date when the application, description and diagram are in order.
Qualifications and Authority of the Agent.
whether the creator and the applicant are in compliance with the requirements.
Whether or not to pay the fees.
The priority claim period is 6 months.

3. Substantive Audit

Meet all or part of the shape, pattern, color or combination thereof, through the creation of visual requirements.
Industrial utilization.
Novelty.
Originality.
If the same person has two or more similar designs, he or she may apply for a design patent and a derivative design patent. The application date of the derivative design shall not be earlier than the application date of the original design.
Design patents shall not be granted for the following items: the shape of purely functional articles, pure artistic creations, the layout of integrated circuit circuits and electronic circuits, and articles that obstruct public order or good customs.
The description and schema should be clearly and fully disclosed, so that those who have ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the design belongs can understand the content and can realize it.
First-to-file doctrine: If there are two or more patent applications for the same or similar design, the design patent may be granted only for the first applicant.
An application should be made for each design.
The Chinese version of the amendment shall not exceed the scope disclosed at the time of application.

and other key points.

4. Announcements

The certificate fee and the annual patent fee for the first year shall be paid within three months from the date of delivery of the approval and approval letter, and the announcement shall be made.
The design patent right shall be granted from the date of publication.
The term of the design patent right shall expire within 15 years from the filing date.

5. Retrial

If the applicant is not satisfied with the decision not to grant a patent, he or she may apply for re-examination within two months after the delivery of the approval letter.

6. Partition system
According to the provisions of the Taiwan Patent Act, if the design applied for a patent is substantially two or more designs, the applicant may apply for a split application. In practice, an application for division includes the following situations:
(1) Does not conform to a design and an application
If the design for which the patent is applied is substantially two or more designs and does not meet the requirements of one design and one application, the applicant may apply for division to overcome it, for example:

When the design for which the patent is applied contains two or more appearances or two or more articles, but does not conform to one design and one application.
Apply for a group design with two or more articles that do not belong to the same category, or are customarily not part of the group of articles for sale or use, and do not meet the definition of group design;
If there are two or more identical or similar designs in an application, only one of the designs can be applied for if it is the same design, and the other designs should be deleted, and if it is a similar design, one of the designs should be applied for, and the other designs may be divided and replaced with "derivative designs".

(2) It has met the requirements of one design and one application
If the design for which the patent is applied has been applied for has met the requirements of one design and one application, but the contents disclosed in the description or schema of the original application are substantially two or more designs, the applicant may divide one or more of the designs disclosed in the specification or schema at the time of application into another application or applications. For example:

Another article or another design expressly disclosed in the Reference Drawing of the schematic at the time of application;
One of the components expressly disclosed in the schema at the time of filing;
The content of the claim is different from that of the original application, and is supported by the disclosure of the description or schema at the time of application, such as the content of the claim that part of the solid line in the schema is changed to a dotted line, or that part of the dotted line is changed to a solid line.

However, the design division case must still meet the standard of "not exceeding the scope disclosed in the description or schema at the time of application of the original application".

In addition, with regard to the timing of division, according to the Taiwan Patent Act, the division of a design patent application shall be made before the re-examination and approval of the original application. In addition, the requirement that a design patent may be divided within three months after approval has not yet been approved for a design patent. In other words, after the original application is approved, or after the re-examination and approval of the rejection, no further division can be proposed. If the applicant intends to split, he or she should seize the period of examination of the application and file an application for division.