The Intellectual Property Office of the Taiwan region of China has recently amended the "Operational Guidelines for Deferral of Substantive Examination for Invention and Design Patent Applications." The revisions further extend the time limits for deferring substantive examination of patents while introducing restrictions on the number of such requests and considerations for public interest. The updated rules will take effect on January 1, 2026.
These amendments primarily address practical needs, providing applicants greater flexibility in utilizing the deferral mechanism to align with patent strategy and product commercialization plans. Following the 2024 expansion that allowed re-examination and divisional applications to qualify for deferral, the latest changes include the following key adjustments:
Invention Patent Applications: Deferral requests are limited to a single instance. The permitted period for requesting deferral and specifying a resumption date has been extended from three years to five years.
Design Patent Applications: Similarly restricted to one deferral request, with the time limit extended from one year to two years.
Furthermore, to prevent misuse of the system and safeguard public interests, the new guidelines clarify that the intellectual property authority may reject a deferral request or terminate an already approved deferral if the application is deemed to potentially have a significant impact on public interests or the rights of third parties.
A transitional clause is included: applications for deferral submitted before January 1, 2026, whose examination period has not yet expired, will automatically benefit from the newly extended time limits.
By granting applicants more preparation time while introducing application caps and a public interest assessment mechanism, these revisions aim to better balance examination flexibility with administrative efficiency, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of the patent system.
Source: https://www.tipo.gov.tw/tw/tipo1/890-68714.html
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