There are two types of legal periods about deposit:
A. Deposit date of the biological material (the date deposit at the IDA): based on Article 27, Patent Act: “When filing a patent application for invention involving a biological material or utilization of a biological material, the applicant shall, no later than the filing date, make a deposit of the biological material with a domestic depository designated by the Specific Patent Agency. “. The deposit date shall not be later than the patent filing date.
B. Filing date of deposit documents to Intellectual Property Office, MOEA:
Based on Article 27 of Patent Act an applicant shall, within four (4) months after the filing date of patent application, submit to the Specific Patent Agency. ” An applicant shall, within four (4) months after the filing date of patent application, submit to the Specific Patent Agency a certificate of deposit, indicating the depository, date of deposit and deposit number. If such document is not submitted within the specified time period, the deposit shall be deemed not to have been made.”If patent application where priority is claimed, “the specified time period set forth in the preceding paragraph shall be within sixteen (16) months after the priority date”.
依據智慧財產局於96年6月11日之智法字第09618600370號公告，智慧財產局認可之國外寄存機構以布達佩斯條約（Budapest Treaty on International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for Patent Procedure）締約國所承認之國際寄存機構（International Depository Authorities, IDAs）為認可對象。目前IDAs共計47個。
Based on Article27, Patent Act, “If an applicant has deposited the biological material in a depository designated by a foreign country in its territory with which the ROC recognizes the effects of deposits based on reciprocity, and if the applicant has submitted the certificate(s) of deposit issued by the said foreign depository within the time period prescribed in Paragraph 2 or Paragraph 3, the applicant is exempted from the requirement of making a deposit in the ROC.” .
Applicant should note that the 4 month stated in Paragraph 2, Article 27, or the 16 months in Paragraph 3 are NOT the legal period for deposit date domestically, but the period where the certificate of deposit sent to the Intellectual Property Office, MOEA.（寄存日之認定及啟動存活試驗等程序之日期。
(第4項)申請前如已於專利專責機關認可之國外寄存機構寄存，而於申請時聲明其事實，並於第二項或前項規定之期間內，檢送寄存於專利專責機關指定之國內寄存機構之證明文件及國外寄存機構出具之證明文件者，不受第一項最遲應於申請日在國內寄存之限制。
Most of the industrialized countries globally are the States party of Regulations Under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure.
The main feature of the Treaty is that a contracting State which allows or requires the deposit of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedure must recognize, for such purposes, the deposit of a microorganism with any IDA, irrespective of whether such authority is on or outside the territory of the said State.
However, ROC is not the States party of the Budapest Treaty, whereas FIRDI cannot be an IDA.
Currently, the certificate of deposit issued by FIRDI are recognized by IDAs in Japan (since 18th of June, 2015), the U.K. (since 1st of December, 2017), and Korea (since 1st of September, 2020).
Principally, Article 27 in Patent Act stated that “When filing a patent application for invention involving a biological material or utilization of a biological material, the applicant shall, no later than the filing date, make a deposit of the biological material with a domestic depository designated by the Specific Patent Agency. ”, the certificate of deposit issued by foreign IDAs cannot be recognized. However, it also stated that “In the event that, prior to filing the patent application for invention, the biological material concerned has been deposited in a foreign depository recognized by the Specific Patent Agency, and where the certificate of deposit issued by the designated domestic depository and the foreign depository has been provided within the time period prescribed in Paragraph 2 or the preceding paragraph, the applicant is exempted from the requirement of making a deposit no later than the filing date, as set forth in Paragraph 1.”
Exceptions are stated as “If an applicant has deposited the biological material in a depository designated by a foreign country in its territory with which the ROC recognizes the effects of deposits based on reciprocity, and if the applicant has submitted the certificate(s) of deposit issued by the said foreign depository within the time period prescribed in Paragraph 2 or Paragraph 3, the applicant is exempted from the requirement of making a deposit in the ROC.”As stated previously, the certificate of deposit issued by FIRDI are recognized by IDAs in Japan (since 18th of June, 2015), the U.K. (since 1st of December, 2017), and Korea (since 1st of September, 2020) and vise versa.
