Taiwan startups at TechCrunch: public demos and patent filing dates

About fifteen Taiwan startups exhibited at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, according to CNA's October 15, 2026 report, updated October 16. The participants included businesses in medical technology, semiconductors and AI, while a Taiwan-hosted forum brought together industry and research representatives. For US founders and investors considering work with Taiwan technology teams, public presentations can raise a specific diligence question: what had already been disclosed when patent applications were filed?

The report does not provide the filing and disclosure records needed to determine any exhibitor's patent position.

A demonstration abroad can matter in Taiwan

Patent Act Article 22 denies a patent to an invention already described in a publication, publicly exploited or known to the public before filing. It also bars an invention that a person with ordinary skill in the field could readily make from the prior art. The provision contains no Taiwan-only geographical limit. A San Francisco presentation can therefore be relevant to a Taiwan invention-patent application.

The comparison concerns the technical content actually disclosed and the invention claimed. A short commercial pitch may reveal much less than a published technical paper or a detailed demonstration. A reference to a product in a news report cannot settle that comparison. Slides, recordings and the version of the product shown provide more specific evidence of what the audience could learn.

Article 22 excuses a disclosure, whether or not the applicant intended it, if the application is filed within twelve months of that disclosure. That disclosure is then excluded from the article's novelty and inventive-step objections. The exception does not cover an intentional official-gazette publication resulting from a patent application in Taiwan or abroad.

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office's grace-period guidance measures the period from the earliest relevant disclosure to filing. It also calls for the facts, dates and supporting evidence of each disclosure. A later conference appearance does not restart the period for technical content already disclosed earlier.

Foreign priority uses a different starting date

Article 28 allows priority based on a qualifying first patent application for the same invention in a WTO member or a country that reciprocally recognizes priority with Taiwan. The Taiwan application must follow within twelve months of that first filing. Where priority is validly claimed, the patentability assessment uses the priority date.

That priority period does not replace the disclosure grace period. If an applicant disclosed the invention before the first foreign filing, the Taiwan disclosure analysis still has its own starting date. Treating the first US filing as a fresh twelve-month grace period for an earlier public demonstration could produce the wrong Taiwan filing deadline.

Priority must also be claimed in the Taiwan application. Article 29 requires the first filing's date, jurisdiction and application number to be declared when applying, and the certified priority document within sixteen months of the earliest priority date. The article contains a limited restoration procedure for certain unintentional omissions. A file labeled “patent pending” does not show whether those steps were completed.

The application must support the invention

Dates are only part of the assessment. Under Article 26, the description must disclose the invention clearly and sufficiently for a person with ordinary skill to understand and carry it out. The claims must be clear, concise and supported by that description.

For a US investor financing further development with a Taiwan team, the useful comparison is between the disclosed prototype, the filed technical description and the claimed invention. An earlier filing date cannot establish that every feature added for a later demonstration was already supported. The presentation record and the patent file answer different parts of that question.

Fictional scene

Sources

• CNA, October 15, 2026, updated October 16: Taiwan participation in TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
• Patent Act, Articles 22, 26, 28 and 29: disclosure, patent specification, priority and procedure.
• TIPO guidance on the grace period and foreign priority: calculation and documentary requirements.

Sources checked: October 17, 2026. The cited Patent Act provisions are in force. This article concerns Taiwan invention patents; it does not determine patent rights in the United States or any other jurisdiction.