Under Taiwan’s patent practice, patent applications become publicly available for inspection after they are laid-open or published. However, someone wishing to obtain a copy of the entire file wrapper of a laid-open or published application needed to place an order with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office and potentially wait for a while for it to arrive.
This will no longer be an issue for the general public, as it is now possible to download at https://tiponet.tipo.gov.tw/TipoMenu/ all documents/materials relating to (1) laid-open applications to which the first examination reports were issued after March 1, 2011 and those which have entered the reexamination stage with their first re-examination reports issued after December 2011; (2) published utility model applications filed after May 2012; or (3) published design applications filed after June 2012. The website itself provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface for its users and is available in Chinese, English and Japanese.
By entering an application number, one can easily learn the most recent status of the concerned application and download all the relevant documents, inclusive of the specification and claims, examination reports/search reports issued by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office and arguments/amendments filed by the Applicant in response thereto, the Notices of Allowance, or official technical opinions specific to utility model inventions, where applicable.
With the aid of this user-friendly website, knowledge of the entire file history of a given laid-open or published application filed in Taiwan in recent years could be only a few clicks away.
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The above contents are intended as general discussion of the subject matter only and shall not be deemed as legal advice to any particular case or issue.