Answer ... As Taiwan is a civil law country, the Patent Law (2019) is placed at the highest level in terms of binding power within the country’s patent law regime. Other important sources of law include:

• the Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act;
• the Patent Examination Guidelines; and
• the Important Notes on Patent Infringement Assessment issued by the Taiwan IP Office.

The decisions of higher courts – in particular, the Supreme Court – may have a de facto binding effect on lower courts.

Answer ... Where an invention, utility model or design is made by an employee in the course of performing his or her duties, the right to apply for a patent is vested in the employer, unless there is an agreement providing otherwise. Where this application right is vested in the employer, the employer must pay the employee reasonable remuneration.

In other circumstances, the default rule is that the application right is vested in the inventor (or the creator of a design), unless there is an agreement providing otherwise. For example, where an invention is funded, the application right is still vested in the inventor, unless the funding agreement provides otherwise.

The application right is both assignable and inheritable.