Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) started the electronic filing service for patent and trademark application on August 26, 2008. The earlier e-filing system was not commonly used by applicants due to its special editor software that was different from Microsoft WORD, of which there were format restrictions on the patent specification; also, the operation procedures were complicated, and moreover, the e-filing service was available only during weekday office hours. Thereafter, TIPO made many improvements on the e-filing system and introduced electronic service of official documents on the website of TIPONET. The e-filing service began 24 hours of operation in January 2016, and the latest version was updated on January 3, 2020. According to TIPO’s statistics by end of 2019, the rates of using electronic filing for patent and trademark applications have reached 79% and 78%, respectively. As the procedure and software of e-filing have become mature and more reliable, it is increasingly used in Taiwan these days.
The e-filing system enables an applicant to file a new application and other application or procedure such as amendment, change, assignment. However, only the basic official fees for a new patent application and a new trademark application are reduced by NT$600 and NT$300, respectively.
| New application | Paper filing | Electronic filing |
|---|---|---|
| Patent | Invention NT$3500 Utility Model NT$3000 Design NT$3000 | Invention NT$2900 Utility Model NT$2400 Design NT$2400 |
| Trademark | NT$3000 for one class within 20 goods | NT$2700 for one class within 20 goods |
If an applicant wishes to use e-filing for a new application, the patent specification or drawing and trademark specimen must meet the format requirements. A trademark specimen shall have a resolution of 300 dpi or above and dimension from 5cm X 5cm to 8cm X 8cm. The drawing(s) for a patent shall be 300 dpi or above, and each drawing size from 8cm X 8cm to 24.5cm X 17cm, while there are also certain image limitations such as 96 dpi or above and from 1.2cm X 0.5cm to 8cm X 17 cm with respect to the chemical formula or equation in the description of patent specification. In case there is an urgent deadline to file a new application especially with a big file size of patent specification or drawings, the applicant may consider to file the application via the submission of paper documents, in order to avoid any failure of online submission due to whatever reasons, and most importantly, it is to ensure that an effective filing date could be obtained.
Furthermore, a foreign applicant is required to appoint a local agent for filing a patent or trademark application, regardless of whether the application is submitted by paper filing or electronic filing. A foreign-language specification can be filed for a patent application, and its Chinese translation must use the e-format as outlined above, in order to complete the electronic filing procedures and enjoy the above reduced official fees. Thereafter, if an official action is received, the applicant may file the response or amendment either by electronic filing or paper filing, and there is no reduced official fees in this regard. Therefore, upon completion of the filing formalities for a new case, the applicant may still file paper documents for follow-up procedures of the same case.
