TIPS^®  Taiwan Intellectual Property Special

The Deadline to Submit Priority Document Extended

Before the Amendment, the applicant who claims priority based on a foreign corresponding application should submit a certified copy of the priority document within 3 months after the patent application is filed in Taiwan. This had always been regarded as an “inextensible deadline” by the TIPO until a Taipei High Administrative Court judgment overturned this practice. Currently, the TIPO allows a 3-month extension for submitting the priority document. Therefore, the application has up to 6 months to prepare the priority document.

The Patent Law amends the deadline to submit the priority document from 3 months to 4 months, after the patent application is filed in Taiwan, extensible for another 2 months. Totally, the application will still have up to 6 months to prepare the priority document.