依據國際智慧財產權規範，例如巴黎公約、與貿易有關智慧財產權協定（TRIPs），各國以此基礎訂立專利相關規定，台灣專利制度在新修法後，對於設計專利有著極大改變，參考國外立法例以及台灣科技現況發展，更新專利法之設計專利相關規定，以健全台灣智慧財產權制度與縮小各國差異，並著重台灣產業界對產品市場變化來周延設計專利保護。
有鑑於台商向大陸地區設計專利申請數量提升，對於大陸地區之外觀設計專利制度應清楚瞭解，並注意兩岸間之差異，有助兩岸設計專利權人之權益保障及相關申請代理等實務發展，故本論文以研究兩岸設計專利法規範，從申請階段、行政審查、侵權訴訟過程所遭遇之問題，以及各階段加入創作空間之客觀判斷提出探討，再比較大陸地區外觀設計專利規範，希望補足台灣設計專利之法制面欠缺部分。
Countries of the world establish their own patent acts, based on the regulations of international intellectual property rights, for example, Paris Convention and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). The regulations of the Design Patent Act in Taiwan change significantly after the amendment of Taiwan Patent Act. The regulations of the Design Patent Act in Taiwan are amended and renewed with referring the case laws of other countries and the current developments of technology in Taiwan so as to improve the intellectual property system in Taiwan, reduce the differences in intellectual property system between Taiwan and other countries, and improve the design patent protection to the changes in the markets for enterprises in Taiwan.
Since the number of the P.R.C. design patent applications filed by Taiwanese enterprises increases, detail regulations of the Design Patent Act in P.R.C. should be completely understood and the difference of the Design Patent Acts between Taiwan and P.R.C. should be figured out, guaranteeing the patentees to understand the scope of their design patent rights and facilitating the developments of the practices in design patent prosecutions both in Taiwan and P.R.C. In this thesis, the Design Patent Acts between Taiwan and P.R.C. are compared with each other and studied based on the issues met in the design patent practices, from the prosecution, the examination, and to the litigation. The degree of freedom in design (the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design) in different stages of the design patent practices are also discussed. By comparing with the regulations of the Design Patent Act in P.R.C, the weaknesses of the Design Patent Acts in Taiwan are pointed out and expected to be improved in the future amendments.
