The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has begun to accept e-filings for patent and trademark applications via its TIPONet system. TIPO has been preparing to launch its e-filing program for years, and finally the system was made available to start as from August 26, 2008. Currently applications maybe filed on-line during office hours only, i.e. 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. In order to encourage applicants to use e-filings, the filing fee for each new patent application (including invention, utility model or design) would be reduced by NT$600 (about US$20), and for each new trademark registration, the fees would be reduced by NT$300 (about US$10).
Although the implementation of TIPONet sets a milestone for the IP field of Taiwan, yet it is still a very new system and may have drawbacks to solve, in particular with aspects to security or other issues in concern with obtaining effective filing date when documents are incomplete. Many agents and applicants look forward to seeing improvements in the near future and hope e-filings brings much convenience to all parties concerned.
