Principles of First-to-File under Intellectual Property Law

According to the provisions in Clause 14, Article 1 of the amended Intellectual Property Law 2009, the first-to-file principle is stipulated as follows:

- In cases where there are multiple applications for identical or equivalent inventions or for industrial designs that are identical or not significantly different from each other, a protection title shall be granted only for the invention or industrial design in the valid application with the earliest priority date or filing date among those that meet the conditions for the grant of a protection title.

- In cases where there are multiple applications from different applicants to register trademarks that are identical or confusingly similar, used for products or services that are identical or similar, or in cases where there are multiple applications from the same applicant to register identical trademarks for identical products or services, a protection title shall be granted only for the trademark in the valid application with the earliest priority date or filing date among those that meet the conditions for the grant of a protection title.

- In cases where multiple applications specified in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article meet the conditions for the grant of a protection title and have the same earliest priority date or filing date, a protection title shall be granted only for the subject matter of one single application among those applications in accordance with the agreement of all applicants; if no agreement is reached, the corresponding subject matters of those applications shall be denied the grant of a protection title.

Generally, this principle will prioritize cases where the valid application has the earliest priority date or filing date among those that meet the conditions for the grant of a protection title. In cases where applications meet the conditions for the grant of a protection title and have the same earliest priority date or filing date, they shall be resolved according to the above provision.

Sincerely!