Definition: design means the creation made in respect of the shape, pattern, color, or any combination thereof, of an article as a whole or in part by visual appeal. For computer generated icons (Icons) and graphic user interface (GUI) applied to an article, an application may also be filed pursuant to this Law for obtaining a design patent.

Legal basis, membership, filing, examination, granting, protection and modification of protection after granting are the same as those for “Patents of Invention” with the following exceptions: 

International priority right: the same as for “Patents of Invention“, except the priority period is six months. 

Domestic priority right: not provided for.

Novelty and non-obviousness: (1) no prior publication of identical or similar design anywhere; (2) no prior public use of identical or similar design anywhere; (3) no priorly known to the public; (4) people skilled in the same field may not easily conseive of or create it; (5) no earlier-filed identical or similar design patent application which is published after the filing of the present patent application. 

Novely grace period may be claimed for above (1) to (4) if the design was disclosed either intentionally or unintentionally by an applicant and the application is filed within six months after disclosure, it is not detrimental to novelty and non-obviousness. However, it is not applicable if the publication in a Gazette is made in Taiwan or a foreign country in accordance with the laws as the consequence of filing a patent application. 

Unpatentable designs: (1) it is a purely functional product design; (2) it is purely an artistic creation or aesthetic crafted product; (3) it is an integrated circuit layout or electrical circuit layout; or (4) it is detrimental to public order or good morals. 

Kinds of protection: design and derivative design.

Requirements for drawings to be filed: drawings or photos covering at least one perspective view and six elevational views (front, rear, left, right, top and bottom views) of the article of the design are preferred. Please note that views not contained in the drawings will be simply considered to form no part of the design (i.e., the unclaimed design), yet views contained in the drawings must be sufficient to disclose the appearance of the claimed design, or definitely delimit the claimed scope of the design (i.e., must fulfill the "enablement" requirements).

Publication of application: not provided for. 

Request for substantive examination: not provided for.

Examination by the Intellectual Property Office (the IPO): novelty (international), non-obviousness and industrial utility will be examined by an Examiner automatically when all formal requirements have been met.

Accelerated examination: effective from September 1, 2023, an applicant may apply for accelerated examination before receiving the First Office Action if one of the following criteria is met: (1) third party commercial exploitation; (2) the design has been recognized by prestigious international or national design awards. The IPO recognizes the following design awards as prestigious: Taiwan's Golden Pin Design Award, Germany's iF Design Award, Germany's Red Dot Design Award, Japan's Good Design Award, and the United States' International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA); (3) design applications from new startup enterprises, which are established less than eight years from the filing date or the earliest priority date of the application.

Conversion: an independent design may be converted into a derivative design, and vice versa, within two months upon receipt of the rejection decision of examination, and retain its original filing date; an application for invention or utility model may be converted into one for design; an application for design may be converted into one for utility model. 

Term of protection: fifteen years from the filing date.

Extension: not provided for. 

Annuities: from 1st to 3rd, NT$ 800 per year; from 4th to 6th, NT$ 2,000 per year; from 7th to 15th, NT$ 3,000 per year; issue fee: NT$ 1,000, and the first year annuity is due within three months upon receipt of the allowance decision; subsequent annuities are due on the day before the anniversary of publication date each year, with a grace period of six months provided a fine is paid.

Working: not provided for.

Invalidation of designs: designs may be invalidated on the following main grounds: (1) that the design lacks industrial utility, novelty, and non-obviousness; (2) there is insufficiency of disclosure in the specification or drawings (lack of enablement); (3) the pre-amendments exceeded the scope of specification or drawings originally filed; (4) the design patent application right was jointly owned, but the application was not filed by all joint owners; (5) the patent was granted to someone not entitled to file for the patent; and (6) the home country of the patentee does not accept design patent applications filed by Taiwan nationals.