The revised Taiwan Patent Act and its Implementing Rules will soon be enforced on January 1, 2013. In an effort towards international patent harmonization, Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has made several changes to the requirements of the patent specification by adopting the models of the Common Application Format established by the Trilateral Offices of USPTO, EPO and JPO in November 2007.
Basically, the abstract and claims are to be separated from the patent specification, i.e. the abstract and claims must commence on a separate page. Further, the placement of section titles in bold and with parentheses by the following order and wording, and paragraph numbers using【0001】【0002】… shall be included in the patent specification. However alternative way of description may be used if these section titles are not applicable due to the nature of invention.
| Section Titles | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Title of Invention | Briefly expressing the contents of invention by stating the subject matter and reflecting the category of the invention |
| Technical Field | Describing the substantial technical field to which the invention belongs or for direct application of invention |
| Prior Art | Describing the prior art as known to the applicant, and providing the related prior art references if necessary |
| Contents of Invention | Including technical problem, solution to problem and advantageous effects as compared to the prior art |
| Brief Description of Drawings (if any) | Describing each of the drawings by its order and in concise wordings |
| Description of Embodiments | Describing at least one mode for carrying out the invention, which could be done by providing examples, and with reference to the drawings (if any) |
| Reference Numerals (if any) | Listing the major reference numerals by the order of drawings (figures) or reference numerals with description |
For the invention relating to biological material and which said biological material has been deposited, the deposit information including the deposit agency, date and number should be stated in the specification. If the invention contains one or more nucleotide or amino acid sequences, its sequence listing should be included in the specification but on a separate page. If necessary, the sequence listing could be submitted in electronic text format.
In general, the specification shall clearly and fully disclosed the invention to enable any person having ordinary skill in the technical field pertaining to said invention could understand the contents of said invention and carry out the invention.
It is to be noted that a foreign language specification can be filed in Taiwan for obtaining an earlier filing date of a patent application, and its translated Chinese specification must be submitted within the designated term. However the foreign language specification is not allowed to be amended and its translated Chinese specification shall not exceed the disclosure scope of the foreign language specification. Therefore, although the above format requirements are referred to the Chinese specification, yet it is preferable that the foreign language specification can also conform to these format requirements.
