In view of the massive earthquake in Mexico on September 20, 2017 and the massive earthquake in Hualien on February 6, 2018, causing massive damage, based on humanitarian considerations, TIPO (Taiwan Intellectual Property Office) referred to Japan’s “Relief Regulations for delayed legal period” for the opportunity of administrative remedy in cases of natural disasters.
TIPO announced on the official website on February 23, 2018 that all applications for patents and trademarks may be subject to delay in the legal period due to force majeure, which may result from Article 17 of the Taiwan Patent Law and Article 12 of the Implementing Regulations of the same country, or the Trademark Law. Article 8 and Article 9 of the Implementing Regulations of the same Act provide that the application shall be restituted. For this application, the Intellectual Property Bureau of Taiwan will, in principle, consider the specific circumstances of the case to be determined.
Article 17 of the Taiwan Patent Law (Delays and Supplements during the Procedure)
The applicant’s application for the patent and other procedures, if he delays the statutory or designated period, shall not be accepted except as otherwise provided in this Law. However, the person who corrects the mistake before the specified period of time is still accepted. If the applicant delays the statutory period due to natural disasters or is not attributable to his own cause, he may, within 30 days after the extinction of the cause has been eliminated, file a reason in writing and apply to the Patent Office for restitution. However, if the delay in the statutory period exceeds one year, no application for restitution may be made. When applying for restitution, the application should be done within the same period.