1. IPTF Regional Update SIA in Chinese Taipei
Shanghai
February 23, 2011

2. Taiwan-China Mutual Recognition Regarding IP Rights
Starting November 22, 2010:
Taiwan will accept priority claims based on applications filed (after September 12, 2010) with SIPO in China;
China will accept priority claims based on applications filed with TIPO in Taiwan but the applicant must be a Taiwan entity or person (non-Taiwan entities or persons are not entitled to claim Taiwan priority dates);
Since December 16, 2010, Taiwan Association for Copyright Protection (TACP) has been recognized by TIPO in Taiwan and National Copyright Administration in China as a body for copyright registration;
Source: TIPO, Lee & Li bulletin

3. Progress in Clearing Backlog of Patent Applications
To increase overall patent examination efficiency, TIPO in 2010 has pushed for greater productivity; in 2010, 28,526 cases have been concluded, which is an increase of more than 5,000 cases over 2009 figures (23,382), and more than 12,000 cases over 2008 (16,445);
The Executive Yuan has through a patent application backlog clearance project obtained approval from the Legislative Yuan to fill 39 existing headcounts and to add 170 contractors (5-year contracts); 97 prior art search specialists have been added to the corp of examiner after fourth months of training;
In effort to improve patent examination quality, external contract examiners have been reduced from 780 to 80 people; at the same time, the number of patent application has more than doubled in the last 10 years (22,161 in 1999, 51,909 in 2008), and the number of regular examiners have not kept pace; hence there are 153,691 cases yet to be concluded by the end of 2010, with an average examination time of 41 months;
The target for backlog reduction is to halve the unconcluded cases to 76,000 and to halve the average examination time to 22 months by 2015 through various programs and efforts;
Source: TIPO

4. Expedited Patent Examination (Accelerated Examination Program AEP)
Established in 2009; total of 1437 cases 2010 (increase of 543 cases from first year); bases for accelerated examination are: (1) foreign patent office has completed substantive examination and has issued approval; (2) EU, US and Japan patent office has issued search report but has not issued approval; (3) expedited exam required for commercial reasons;
Average examination times are: 75.2, 61.5 and days for the each of the three bases claimed by the applicant;
Of the applications based on foreign patent office approval, 44.5% are based on US Patent Office examination, 34.2% are based on SIPO examination in China, followed by examination completed in Japan (11.7%) and EU (6.3%);
Breakdown by technology of the accelerated applications: optoelectronics & liquid crystals (19%), electrical, measurement, optical & storage (17%), mechanical (13%); semiconductors applications take up 6%;
In 2010, approval rate for ordinary utility applications are 61%; AEP applications have approval rate of about 84%;
Source: TIPO

5. Changes to Copyright Collective Management Organizations
Amendment to Copyright Intermediary Organization Act; “Copyright Intermediary Organization” is changed to “Copyright Collective Management Organization”;
Newly established Collective Management Organizations must apply for regulatory approval; if regulator deems the existence of sufficient
Royalty rates must be published and submitted to competent copyright authority (TIPO) for review; users are to raise objections if any with the copyright authority;
If two or more collective management organizations overlap in their coverage of certain copyrights, the organizations are required to agree on a single collection window method;
Source: Lee & Li bulletin