The Latest Developments regarding Patent Inventive Step and the "Could-Would" Approach

Taiwan's Supreme Court and Intellectual Property and Commercial Court have adopted the "could-would" approach for determining patent inventive step in recent decisions. The Supreme Court in cases 2024 Tai Shang Zi No. 459 and 453 distinguished between "apparent willingness to attempt" versus "apparent willingness to implement" when combining prior art references. The IPC Court applied this approach in administrative judgment 2024 Xing Zhuan Su Zi No. 49 involving a spiral planer spindle patent, requiring more detailed motivation explanations from invalidation requesters.