When a patent or trademark application has been examined and allowed, the applicant must pay fees for issuance of certificate on granted patent (Letters Patent) or trademark registration. In order to comply with the government’s green policy and provide service for digitalization, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) announced that the applicant can either apply for an electronic or paper certificate starting from January 1, 2023.
If a patent or trademark applicant chooses to receive an electronic certificate, it must be clearly specified in the application with payment of fees. TIPO will then notify the applicant or his/her agent to download the e-certificate from TIPO’s E-SET system or designated website. TIPO’s e-certificate will be in PDF format with anti-counterfeiting mechanism. The official fee for an electronic certificate is the same to that of a paper certificate. For an allowed patent application, it is required to pay an issue fee of NT$1000, plus the annuity fee (at least the first year); for an allowed trademark application, it is required to pay the registration fee of NT$2500 (for one class, and for each additional class, an additional NT$2500 per class must be paid).
After the applicant has chosen an electronic certificate, the e-certificate issued by TIPO is an original certificate. If there is a future need for a paper documentation of the certificate, the applicant can request for a duplicate certificate in paper form. This duplicate certificate is deemed a proof documentation of original certificate, its issued date and other particulars are the same as the original (electronic) certificate, unless the certificate is re-issued for changes such as the name of right owner. It is required to pay an official fee (NT$1000 for patent and NT$500 for trademark) for each paper copy of duplicate certificate.
Since TIPO does not provide a duplicate certificate in electronic form, the applicant cannot request for any further e-certificate after obtaining an originally issued paper certificate. Therefore, it is preferable to choose the electronic certificate for a granted patent or trademark registration. Even if the applicant also needs a paper version of certificate and TIPO can provide only a duplicate certificate, it is still an officially issued documentation by TIPO.
As to the re-issuance of certificate mentioned above, the applicant can file a request with TIPO by stating the reasons such as the original certificate is lost or damaged, or there are changes on the particulars of the original certificate. Under such circumstances, the applicant can also choose to re-issue the certificate in electronic or paper form by paying the official fee (NT$600 for patent and NT$500 for trademark). TIPO will publish to void the original issued certificate when re-issuing a new certificate.
