In the past, when a patent applicant or patent agent applied for an interview with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) to discuss patentability issues with a patent examiner, such an interview could be held only at the TIPO or the TIPO service centres in Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan or Kaohsiung.
On 24 February 2022, to better accommodate changing needs and developments in communication technology, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced an amendment to the Working Guidelines for Patent Interviews. The amendment includes the following new measures.
The TIPO has relaxed interview restrictions for cases unrelated to invalidation actions to allow remote interviews for patent applications. This means that a patent applicant or a patent agent may file a request for an interview with the TIPO and have a bilateral or trilateral discussion by video with a patent examiner through a conference system established by the TIPO at a proper venue, as long as:
- software and hardware equipment designated by the TIPO are available;
- the video quality is good; and
- the remote interview is held at a non-public venue.
In accordance with the new measures on remote interviews, the following regulations were also added to the amendment. During the remote interview:
- no photography, voice recording or video recording are permitted without the TIPO's consent; and
- TIPO staff shall read out the agenda of the interview and the matters to be discussed, and send an interview record to the participants in electronic format. The participants shall return the interview record in electronic format to the TIPO for confirmation.
The new measures took effect on 1 March 2022.
For further information on this topic please contact Andy Hsieh at Lee and Li Attorneys at Law by telephone (+886 2 2763 8000) or email ([email protected]). The Lee and Li Attorneys at Law website can be accessed at www.leeandli.com.