The influence of the Draft Amendment to the Patent Act on biotech patents in Taiwan

Patent Attorneys Yulan Kuo and Frank Lu explore the possibilities of patenting animal and plant subject-matters in Taiwan

According to art 24 of the Taiwan Patent Act ¹, animal varieties and plant varieties are not patentable subject-matters. As an incentive to encourage and further the development of the Taiwan biotech industry, in the draft amendment to the Patent Act (‘Draft Amendment’), the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) proposed to allow animal and plant varieties as patentable subject-matters in the future.