A design patent application will be conducted substantive examination by Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) upon receipt of all required documents. TIPO’s standard processing period for design patent applications at the preliminary examination stage is eight months, and the average period of first notification is six months. As the examination time for Taiwanese design applications is relatively fast compared with foreign countries or regions, TIPO launched the deferment of substantive examination program for design applications from July 1, 2018.
Now, due to another newly program for accelerated examination of design patent applications starting from September 1, 2023, TIPO has simultaneously amended the above program for deferred examination of design applications, in order to exclude a design application that already requested for accelerated examination, and also to relax the one-year duration for requesting the deferred examination, based on the filing date of a design application in Taiwan, rather than its earliest priority date. The following are key points of the Deferred Design Substantive Examination Program that amended and implemented on September 1, 2023.
- A written request for deferring substantive examination must be made and no official fee will be required.
- The request can be made at the same time when filing a design patent application or within one year after its filing date.
- The request should clearly designate a date for continuing the substantive examination (the date must be within one year after the filing date of a design patent application).
- The request is applicable to a design application at the primary examination stage, provided that said design application must be 1) not notified by an official action or decision, 2) no divisional application filed, or 3) not requested for accelerated examination.
For a Taiwan design application that has been allowed after substantive examination but not yet filed in a foreign country, the applicant may request for a deferment of publication (one to six months) when paying the fees for issuance of a Letters Patent, so that the design can meet the novelty requirement for obtaining protection in foreign country. tion. Therefore, if the trademark registrant suspects or is concerned about the infringement of his/her trademark rights by imported/exported goods, a request for advice protection can be filed with customs administration. This can assist customs notification, detention of counterfeit goods, and other procedures, as well as enhancing the protection of the trademark registrant’s own rights and interests.
