TIPS^®  Taiwan Intellectual Property Special

Submission of Draft Patent Attorney Law to Legislative Yuan

Based on regulations applicable to other professional and technical personnel, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office has prepared the draft Patent Attorney Law. On December 14, 2006, the Executive Yuan had again submitted the draft Patent Attorney Law for review by the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s Cabinet). The Draft consists of 5 Chapters and 40 Articles.

Main elements of the draft Patent Attorney Law are as follows:

1.Stipulate active and passive qualifications for patent attorneys, and procedures for application for patent attorney certificate after passing a patent bar.

2.Patent attorneys may not engage in business activity without prevocational training, registration and entering a patent attorney association.

3.Patent attorneys should engage in business activity in the form of a partnership firm.

4.Stipulate Patent Attorney Association to be the authority for sanctioning patent attorneys.

5.tipulate reasons for sanctioning of patent attorneys and sanctioning of persons who practice without holding a patent attorney certificate.

6.Stipulate qualifications for persons who had previously been granted a patent attorney certificate pursuant to the Patent Attorney Regulations, who shall be automatically registered without passing the patent bar.

7.Stipulate that patent practitioners, who had previously been granted a patent attorney certificate pursuant to the Patent Attorney Regulations, may continue to handle patent agency business to protect their constitutional work rights.

Given that certain persons who had previously been granted a patent attorney certificate pursuant to the Patent Attorney Regulations, may be automatically registered without passing the patent bar, the Executive Yuan anticipates less lobbying to resist the legislation of this Draft, which will help to push early legislation after procrastination of more than 10 years due to resistance from many of the current practitioners.