2011-12-05
Patent Act Revised and may be Effective One Year After Publication
Taiwan’s Legislation Yuan passed draft revisions of the Patent Act on November 29, 2011. The effective date of these revisions will be set by the Administrative Yuan, presumably one year after publication.
The main revisions include the addition of a stipulation that the examinations and testing of medicine conducted in order to apply for a medicine permit in the domestic or foreign market will not be deemed to infringe on a patent. Moreover, the newly amended Act also makes a compulsory license more difficult to obtain. The amended Act also changes the name as well as the scope and concept of design patents. In the future, applicants will be able to apply for design patent protection of icons and GUIs. However, due to the lack of public consensus, patents for animals and plants are not included in the newly revised Act.
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