Newsletter
PATENT FEE REGULATIONS AMENDED
The MOEA announced the amended Regulations Governing Patent Fees on 21 November 2001, which took effect on 1 January 2002. The major contents of the amendment include the follow-ing:
Filing Fees for Invention & New Utility Model Applications
When filing an invention or a new utility model patent application or applying for its reexamina-tion, in addition to the standard filing fee, an excess fee must be paid if the total page number of the specification and drawings exceeds 50. The standard filing fee for an invention applica-tion and a new utility model patent application is NT$6,000 and NT$4,500, respectively, while the excess fee is NT$500 for every 50 excess pages. If the total excess pages are less than 50 pages, the excess page fee is NT$500. The number of claims is immaterial to determine whether an excess filing fee is required or not. The excess fee does not apply to new design patent applica-tions.
1.For an invention, new utility model or new design patent application, if the applicant submits English translation of the cover page of the specification and the abstract, the filing fee can be reduced by NT$500.
2.The amended regulations also provide for a filing fee reduction of NT$500 for a patent application that is filed in the Double Bar-code Format and electronic filing format. Although the Double Barcode Format has been proposed by the IPO for a few years, the majority of patent applicants and local firms find it inadequate to ensure that pat-ent specifications be prepared accurately and completely. Therefore, few specifica-tions have adopted the Double Barcode Format. There is no other electronic filing mechanism available at this moment. Therefore, such reduction of filing fee is not practically feasible.
Fees for Invention Patent Applications Filed on or After 26 October 2002
Given that the ROC will implement the laying open practice and conduct substantive examina-tion of invention patent applications from 26 October 2002, the amended regulations also provide for fees for early publication and sub-stantive examination.
Details of the new fee schedule are available upon request.