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On 14 January 2004, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced amendments to its Regula-tions for Reduction of Patent Annual Fees, which will take effect from 1 July 2004. The main points are as follows:
Article 87 of the Patent Act allows a patentee that is a natural person, an educational insti-tution, or a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) to apply to the patent authority for a reduction in patent annuities. The regulations require an application to be made in writing, and define "educational institution" and SME as follows:
1.Educational institution: a public or regis-tered private educational institution (within Taiwan), or an overseas educational insti-tution recognized by the ROC Ministry of Education.
2.SME: an enterprise as defined in the Stan-dards for Identifying a Small or Me-dium-Sized Enterprise. A foreign SME in manufacturing, construction, mining or quarrying should have paid-in capital not exceeding NT$80 million; an SME in other sectors should have operating revenues in the preceding year not exceeding NT$100 million.
The patent authority may instruct a patentee to submit supporting documents as it considers necessary.
The amounts of reduction under the regula-tions are as follows:
1.First to third years: NT$800 per year
2.Fourth to sixth years: NT$1,200 per year
A patentee may make a single application for reductions over three years or six years, or may make annual applications. If a patentee eligible for a reduction makes a late payment in accordance with Article 82 of the Patent Act, the 100% surcharge payable will be based on the reduced annuity.
A patentee that becomes eligible for a reduc-tion after paying annuities in advance may apply from the following year for a reduction with respect to those years not yet elapsed. If a patentee that has been granted a reduction and has paid reduced annuities in advance ceases to be eligible for the reduction, it must make up for the difference beginning from the following year.
If a patentee that has paid annuities in advance before the regulations take effect becomes eligible for a reduction by virtue of the regu-lations, it may apply for a reduction for years not yet elapsed.
Lee and Li will also write to clients to explain further details of the new patent annuities pay-ment practice.
