Proposed Law to Expand Protection of New Design


June 29, 2006

In order to stimulate Taiwan's cultural creativity and revitalize the traditional industrial design sector, Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office ("IPO") is considering to propose an amendment to the Patent Act to expand its protection for "partial design." The Patent Act currently only protects the appearance of a whole product in terms of its exterior look, color scheme, pattern, or any of these combinations. As such, if the product contains several distinctive design features and only one of such features is copied, no protection is afforded to the owner of the design. The new law will correct this deficiency. Moreover, other than the protection afforded to an original design, a subsequent similar design may be separately protected as a derivative design. Under the proposed amendment, protected subject matters will extend to virtual graphical interface, computer-generated image design and icons, and graphical user interface.