The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) of China has recently amended the Operational Directions for Deferral of Substantive Examination of Invention and Design Patent Applications again. These amended directions take effect on January 1, 2026. Key points include:

I. It is clarified that a request for deferral of substantive examination of an invention patent application shall be filed only once. The current three-year time limit for filing a request to defer substantive examination and for the resumption of examination is relaxed to five years. (See Points 2 and 4 of the amended provisions for details)

II. It is clarified that a request for deferral of substantive examination of a design patent application shall be filed only once. The current one-year time limit for filing a request to defer substantive examination and for the resumption of examination is relaxed to two years. (Points 3 and 4 of the amended provisions)

III. The grounds for rejection on which the patent authority may refuse to accept a request for deferral of substantive examination or terminate the procedure of deferral of substantive examination are clarified. (Point 7 of the amended provisions)

Related reading: https://www.tipo.gov.tw/tw/patents/515-68715.html

(Source: UNITALEN)