Is Taiwan in the PCT? How to bring a PCT-family invention into Taiwan

No. Taiwan is not a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and it has no PCT national phase. A PCT international application cannot be filed with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO), and it cannot designate Taiwan or enter a national phase here. TIPO’s own Q&A notes that national-phase entry under the PCT is generally due within 30 months from the earliest priority date, subject to each country’s specific rules; that route does not exist for Taiwan. To claim priority in Taiwan for a PCT-family invention, an invention or utility model application must be filed directly with TIPO within 12 months after the earliest priority date.

The 12 months are counted from the day following the filing date of the first application up to the filing date accorded in Taiwan (Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Art. 25(1); Art. 41(1) for utility model applications). Under TIPO’s examination guidelines, if the Taiwan filing date is moved to a later date because required documents were completed late, and that later date falls outside the 12 months, the priority claim will not be accepted.

A PCT international application can serve as the basis for a priority claim in Taiwan, provided it is the first application for the invention. According to TIPO, the PCT application must designate a WTO member (or a country that reciprocally recognizes priority claims with Taiwan) and must have been duly accorded a filing date. The applicant must also meet the eligibility requirement for priority claims, and the Taiwan application must still be filed directly with TIPO within the priority period. Where the PCT application itself claims priority from an earlier application, the 12 months run from the filing date of that earlier, first application, not from the PCT filing date.

If the 12 months have already passed

A priority claim in an invention or utility model application filed in Taiwan after the 12-month priority period has expired will not be accepted; for a design application the period is six months. The procedure for reinstating a priority claim, which is open until 16 months after the earliest priority date (10 months for designs), is for a claim that was unintentionally left out of, or incompletely declared in, an application filed in time; it does not extend the 12 months.

Patent protection is territorial, and an applicant who has already filed abroad must still file a patent application in Taiwan to be protected here. A Taiwan application can still be filed without a priority claim. It is then examined as of its own filing date, so if the earlier application has already been laid open, or its grant has been published, the Taiwan application lacks novelty.

As a rule, the grace period does not cover the publication of your own earlier patent application in a patent gazette, in Taiwan or abroad, whether the application was laid open or the grant was published. The statutory condition is that the publication follows from the filing of a patent application and was made by the applicant’s will (Patent Act, Art. 22(4)); the same exclusion applies to designs (Art. 122(4)).

The grace period is calculated from the day following the earliest disclosure up to the filing date accorded in Taiwan: 12 months for inventions and utility models, and six months for designs (Patent Act, Arts. 22(3), 120 and 122(3); Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Arts. 13(3), 45 and 46(3)). Its starting point is determined separately from that of the priority period. Under TIPO’s examination guidelines, where an invention application both claims priority and relies on the grace period, the priority period cannot be counted from the date of the disclosure, and the two periods cannot be accumulated.

If the 12 months are about to expire or have just passed, contact us as early as possible; we review the publication history for each case.

Filing within the priority period

Within the priority period, a PCT-family invention comes into Taiwan by a direct application to TIPO with a priority claim. TIPO’s advice is to file as early as possible. The table shows the periods that govern the claim.

Step	Time limit	Counted from	Basis
File the Taiwan application with the priority claim	12 months for an invention or utility model application; six months for a design application	The filing date of the first application (the earliest priority date where two or more priorities are claimed). The 12 months are counted from the day following that filing date up to the filing date accorded in Taiwan.	Patent Act, Arts. 28(1), 28(2), 120 and 142(2); Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Arts. 25(1) and 41(1)
Submit the priority document	16 months for an invention or utility model application; 10 months for a design application	The earliest priority date	Patent Act, Arts. 29(2), 120 and 142(3)
Apply to reinstate a priority claim that was unintentionally left out, or incompletely declared, at filing	16 months for an invention or utility model application; 10 months for a design application	The earliest priority date	Patent Act, Arts. 29(4), 120 and 142(3)

Both the 12-month priority period and the period for the priority document are statutory periods. A priority claim in an invention or utility model application filed after the 12 months have expired will not be accepted, and the period for the priority document cannot be extended. Under TIPO’s examination guidelines, periods fixed by the Patent Act itself cannot be extended at the applicant’s request unless the Act itself provides otherwise. The same guidelines provide that the priority period is six months where either the first application or the Taiwan application is a design application. If the last day of a period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, national holiday or other day off, the period ends on the next working day; a Saturday that the government has designated as a make-up working day does not extend the period.

Who can claim priority

Taiwan is not a member of the Paris Convention. Priority is instead available for first filings made in a WTO member or in a country that reciprocally recognizes priority claims with Taiwan. An applicant who is not a national of a WTO member, and whose country has no such reciprocity with Taiwan, may still claim priority if it has a domicile or business establishment in the territory of a WTO member or of a reciprocal country (Patent Act, Art. 28(1) and (3)).

Priority may also be claimed in Taiwan from an application first filed in mainland China, for patents and trademarks alike. The same priority periods and requirements apply as for any other priority claim, and we check eligibility for each case.

TIPO’s examination guidelines add two points. Where there are two or more applicants, every applicant must meet the eligibility requirement for the priority claim. Where the applicant in Taiwan is not the same as the applicant of the priority application, TIPO presumes that the applicant is entitled to claim priority and does not ask for a document assigning the priority right; any later dispute is the applicant’s responsibility.

What to declare and file

A priority claim must be declared at the time of filing the Taiwan application, stating (1) the filing date of the first application, (2) the country or WTO member in which it was filed, and (3) the application number of the first application (Patent Act, Art. 29(1)). If the filing date of the first application, or the country or WTO member in which it was filed, is not declared at the time of filing, the priority claim is deemed not to have been made (Art. 29(3)). According to TIPO’s commentary on the Patent Act, the application number of the first application may be supplied afterwards.

The priority document must be the certified copy issued by the office of first filing; an electronic version that meets TIPO’s requirements may replace the certified copy if the applicant states that it is identical to it (Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Art. 26). For invention and utility model applications, the priority document must be submitted within 16 months after the earliest priority date (10 months for design applications); otherwise the priority claim is deemed not to have been made.

As of October 2026, the priority document can be supplied by electronic exchange where the priority application is a national application filed in Japan or South Korea (invention, utility model and design applications) or in the United States (all patent types). A PCT international application does not qualify, even one filed in one of those countries, so where the PCT application is the priority basis, the applicant has to submit the priority document within the 16-month period (10 months for a design application). TIPO’s section on electronic exchange of priority documents (in Chinese) has a page on each arrangement. The Taiwan patent filing checklist has a section on priority documents and the electronic exchange.

If the priority claim was left out at filing

An applicant who unintentionally did not claim priority at the time of filing, or whose claim is deemed not to have been made because the filing date of the first application or the country or WTO member in which it was filed was not declared, may apply for reinstatement of the priority claim within 16 months after the earliest priority date for invention and utility model applications, or within 10 months for design applications (Patent Act, Arts. 29(4) and 142(3)). Within that same period the applicant must pay the fee for the request, make the required declaration and submit the priority document. If this period is missed, it cannot be restored (Art. 17(4)). Reinstatement is for an application that was itself filed in time; it does not extend the 12 months.

Filing in a foreign language first

A Taiwan filing date can be secured before the Chinese translation is ready. For an invention application, the description, claims and necessary drawings may be filed first in a foreign language (Patent Act, Art. 25(3)). If the Chinese translation is then submitted within the period specified by TIPO, the filing date is the date on which the foreign-language documents were filed. The same applies to utility model applications (description, claims and drawings; Art. 106(3)) and design applications (description and drawings; Art. 125(3)).

The foreign-language documents must be in one of nine languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. To secure a filing date, the foreign-language documents for an invention application must contain a description, at least one claim and any necessary drawings; for a utility model application, a description, at least one claim and drawings; and for a design application, drawings together with the title of the design (Regulations Governing Submission of Foreign Language Application Documents, Arts. 2 and 4). The application form itself must be completed in Chinese (Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Art. 3(2)); TIPO’s English FAQ specifies traditional Chinese. The application form is not part of the foreign-language documents.

According to TIPO, the Chinese translation is due within four months for invention and design applications, and within two months for utility model applications, counted from the date the foreign-language documents were filed. An extension may be requested before the period expires, up to a total of six months from that date. The period stated in TIPO’s notice for the individual application governs.

If the Chinese translation is not submitted within the specified period, the application will be dismissed. If the translation is submitted before the dismissal decision is served, the application is accepted, but the filing date becomes the date on which the translation was submitted and the foreign-language documents are deemed not to have been filed (Patent Act, Arts. 25(4), 106(4) and 125(4)). If that later filing date falls outside the priority period (12 months, or six months for a design application), the priority claim will not be accepted.

PCT search and examination reports

Under TIPO’s Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) for invention applications, a PCT international search report or international preliminary examination report is not, by itself, a ground for acceleration. Of the AEP grounds that rely on foreign examination results, one requires that a corresponding application has been allowed after substantive examination, and the other requires an office action issued in a corresponding application by one of the three patent offices named in the program. TIPO’s AEP program and its Q&A add that an international preliminary examination report does not count as that office action, that a search report alone is not enough, and that an international search report prepared by one of those offices is filed with the office action as a supporting document where there is one. AEP is also available on two grounds that do not depend on foreign results. For the current conditions, see TIPO’s AEP page.

Related pages

The Taiwan patent filing checklist lists the documents for a direct filing; a two-page version is available as a PDF. See also the pages on the power of attorney, on patent and trademark deadlines, on how long a Taiwan patent or trademark takes, and our patent practice. For how we take instructions and report, see For Foreign Associates.