According to Article 145 of the draft amendment to the Patent Act passed by the Legislative Yuan on November 29, 2011, the competent authority shall promulgate regulations governing the limitation of the foreign language documents submitted in accordance with Paragraph 3 of Article 25, Paragraph 3 of Article 106, and Paragraph 3 of Article 125. After holding a Public Forum on April 13, 2012 to collate comments from the public, the TIPO prepared and published an advance announcement of the draft of “Regulations for Governing the Foreign Language Documents” on May 17, 2012.
The draft regulations are listed below for your advance reference:
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Article 1 |
These regulations are formulated pursuant to the provision of Article 145 of the Patent Act (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”). |
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Article 2 |
The categories of the foreign language documents in accordance with Paragraph 3 of Article 25, Paragraph 3 of Article 106, and Paragraph 3 of Article 125 of the Act shall be limited to Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. In violation of the provision set forth in the preceding Paragraph, the Patent Authority shall specify a date for the applicant to supplement the correct documents in an acceptable language, and the date on which the correct documents are supplemented shall be regarded as the date on which the acceptable foreign language documents are submitted. |
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Article 3 |
When two or more foreign language documents are filed for the same patent application, only the foreign language document submitted first may be accepted, except in the case where the applicant declares the foreign language document filed later shall be used, the date on which the later foreign language document is submitted shall be regarded as the date on which the foreign language document is submitted. If the two or more foreign language documents referred to in the preceding Paragraph are filed on the same date, the Patent Authority shall specify a date for the applicant to select one of such documents, and failure of the applicant to select within the time limit shall cause the dismissal of the patent application. |
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Article 4 |
The foreign language documents submitted for filing an invention patent application shall contain a specification, at least one claim and necessary drawings. The foreign language documents submitted for filing a utility model patent application shall contain a specification, at least one claim and drawings. The foreign language documents submitted for filing a design patent application shall contain drawings and the title of the article embodying the design. |
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Article 5 |
The applicant is not allowed to submit the patent gazette in foreign language or the certified document of priority of the parent application to substitute for the foreign language documents. |
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Article 6 |
These Regulations shall enter into force on the date of promulgation. |
JAW-HWA INTERNATIONAL PATENT & TRADEMARK & LAW OFFICES
10-1FL., NO.23, SEC.1, CHANG-AN E. RD.,TAIPEI10441,TAIWAN, R.O.C
