The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has been issuing more and more of its documents electronically since it kicked off e-document services in January of 2014, with 64.82% of trademark and patent documents sent to patent agents electronically in Q3 of 2016 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Proportion of e-documents for patent and trademark services; Source: TIPO

The highest uptake has been for patent-related documents, with 72.37% of all patent-related documents being sent by TIPO to patent agents electronically, while the proportion of trademark-related documents sent to agents by TIPO was slightly lower at 51.17%. The sharpest rise in the proportion of electronic patent documents issued by TIPO, from 53.53% to 67.06%, was seen from Q4 of 2015 to Q1 of 2016.

The number of patent and trademark agents who have taken up the scheme has also been on the rise with 197 patent agents and 173 trademark agents signed up as of September 2016 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Number of patent and trademark agencies signing up to receive e-documents; Source: TIPO

Currently 95 patent and trademark agencies in Taiwan’s capital Taipei have signed up for the scheme, as well as 27 in neighboring New Taipei, one in Yilan County, eight in the city of Taoyuan, ten in Hsinchu, 33 in Taichung, nine in Changhua County, four in the city of Chiayi, 15 in the city of Tainan and five in Kaohsiung.

The top five patent agencies in terms of number of documents received in Q3 of 2016 were Lee and Li Attorneys at Law, Taiwan International Patent & Law Office, Saint Island Intellectual Property Group, the JC IP Group and Tsai Lee & Chen Patent Attorneys. The top give trademark agencies in terms of documents received were Saint Island Intellectual Property Group, Lee and Li Attorneys at Law, Taiwan International Patent & Law Office, Tsai Lee & Chen Patent Attorneys and Wenping & Co. International Patent & Trademark Office.

The system has been online 24 hours a day 7 days a week since July 1, 2016.

The scheme was launched to cut down on the number of paper documents that the office sent out each year, including office actions, examination reports and notifications, as well as saving time in the patent and trademark application processes. The scheme also allows for clients to receive documents more quickly from patent agents, as they can be forwarded electronically. To use the system, patent agents must have the E-SET system installed, which is available on the TIPO website.

Prior to the e-document system going online, e-filing for patents in Taiwan was already available, launching in August 2008. Only agencies operating within Taiwan can apply for patents and trademarks with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. Agencies operating outside of Taiwan must go through a Taiwan-based agency.

Author: Conor Stuart Current Post: Senior Editor, IP Observer Education: MA Taiwanese Literature, National Taiwan University BA Chinese and Spanish, Leeds University, UK Experience: Translator/Editor, Want China Times Editor, Erenlai Magazine

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