Limitation On Claim of Patent Priority

A Dutch semiconductor manufacturer filed several suits in Taiwan's Administrative Court to challenge decisions made by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office ("TIPO") in connection with claims of priority dates earlier than the date Taiwan acceded to the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). So far, none of them has been successful. The court recently confirmed the decisions of the TIPO by saying that the priority date cannot be earlier than January 1, 2002, the date Taiwan acceded to the WTO (“WTO Date”), unless there exists a treaty or an agreement between Taiwan and the government of the applicant on mutual recognition of priority rights. In the subject patent application, the manufacturer claimed a priority of European Patent Convention (“EPC”) on May 9, 2001, a date that is earlier than January 1, 2002 and was not accepted by the TIPO.