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Taiwan IP News

2008/7/5 IPR Police to continue strengthening IPR inspections

In June 2008, the IPR Police uncovered 254 cases of IPR infringement (122 trademark cases and 132 copyright cases), including 163 cases of Internet infringement, 25 cases of infringement in storefronts, 42 cases of infringement at night markets, 1 case of newspaper insert, 2 cases of infringement in factories and 21 other miscellaneous cases. 

2008/6/26 Patent, trademark and related examination practice notice periods will be changed from day count to month count as of September 1, 2008

Under current standard practice, the specified period for all notifications by TIPO examiners is measured by days. For instance, in foreign invention patent cases, the specified response period for examination opinion notices is 90 days after the notification is received. But in studying the patent practices of other countries, it was observed that most of the specified periods in offices outside Taiwan are being measured by months. After thorough consideration, the decision was made to change the specified period for most cases from day count to month count, with the exception of some cases which have a notification period of less than 30 days. Under Article 20.1 of the Patent Act, the duration of the specified period does not include the commencement date. All other calculations of dates and periods will follow Article 48 of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Notifications for applicant cases to be sent before August 31, 2008 will continue to specify the time period by days. This new measure will add more leniency to its examination notification process, helping to further ensure the rights of applicants.

2008/6/6 Royal Philips' CD-R compulsory licensing dispute resolved peacefully

The dispute arising from Gigastorage's application for compulsory licensing of five Royal Philips' CD-R disc patents has ended as Gigastorage withdrew its application with TIPO and Royal Philips withdrew its appeal with the Ministry of Economic Affairs. TIPO will solicit opinions from all related sectors in examining the compulsory licensing provisions in the Patent Act before embarking on a comprehensive amendment of the act at year's end.

TIPO had originally granted compulsory licensing of five Royal Philips Electronics' CD-R disc patents to Gigastorage, but the Taipei High Administrative Court repealed this license. This invalidated retroactively and brought the case back to its original status of Gigastorage applying for the compulsory licensing with TIPO. TIPO originally planned to complete the review of the Gigastorage application before October 2008, but the case ended when Gigastorage withdrew its application on May 15. On May 21, Royal Philips also withdrew its appeal with the Ministry of Economic Affairs against TIPO's May 31, 2007 decision to rescind Gigastorage's compulsory licensing. Thus the dispute arising from Gigastorage's application for compulsory licensing of five Royal Philips' CD-R disc patents was ended civilly.

In conjunction with the new texts added to the Doha Declaration and 2003 General Council resolution, TIPO will examine the compulsory licensing provisions in the Patent Act when the Patent Act undergoes amendment at the end of 2008. On this particular issue, TIPO will continue to keep an open mind by holding public hearings, addressing the concerns of all related sectors, and taking into consideration suggestions made on the subject. 

2008/6/6 Criminal Investigation Bureau cracked the largest counterfeit games and porno OD website: Paris Strawberry

The Ninth Squad of Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) tracked a game copy site, which had a few dozens subsites, all constructed in the U.S. and rerouted many times over. The CIB also found that the suspect hid in China and managed his business from there. The website sold all kinds of counterfeit Wii, XBOX, and PS2 games and movie DVD with assistance from a well-organized web of franchisees. Each year at least 50 franchisees spreading all over Taiwan would use the website to solicit business and the suspect would burn and deliver the ordered goods. The CIB raided the factory and seized more than 60,000 ODs on June 5, 2008.

2008/5/23 The WTO amendment to TRIPS Agreement has been approved by the Legislative Yuan on May 23, 2008

The WTO amendment to Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has been approved by the Legislative Yuan on May 23, 2008, under the recommendation of the Executive Yuan. After the approval is announced by Presidential Decree, our WTO delegation will formally inform the WTO Secretariat of our ratification of the amendment. 

According to TIPO, ratification of the amendment is congruous with our humanitarian stance to aid other WTO members and will be positive to enhancing our visibility in international affairs. It shows unequivocally our stance to support the needs of least-developed countries for drugs to deal with public health problems. It also demonstrates our willingness to perform our obligations to the international community, which should allow us to play a more active role in international affairs.

2008/5/2 Dialogue between IP court judges and right holder groups

1. As the IP court is scheduled for establishment on July 1, 2008, TIPO has lately been receiving a number of requests from domestic and foreign right holder groups hoping to meet with IP court judges before the court begins operation to help the judges understand the types of IPR infringement cases and issues of concern to the right holder groups.

2. With the consent of the Judicial Yuan, TIPO arranged a meeting on May 2 and invited the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, European Chamber of Commerce Taipei, Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, Taiwan Intellectual Property Alliance, Asian Patent Attorneys Association Taiwan Group, and major patent and trademark offices in Taiwan to attend.

2008/4/25 DGOC and IPR Business Partnership jointly held a Workshop on Counterfeiting and Border Measures

To implement the government's IPR protection policy, Customs has been adopting vigorous border measures to crack down counterfeit and pirated goods and enhance the capability of Customs officers in identifying counterfeit goods. The Directorate General of Customs (DGOC) joined efforts with IPR Business Partnership (an international non-government organization committed to promoting public-private partnership to combat infringements of intellectual property rights) to hold a two-day Workshop on Counterfeiting and Border Measures at the Taipei International Convention Center on April 29-30, 2008.

The agenda for the two-day workshop included: 1. Inviting eight right holders or right holder groups to lecture on the techniques of identifying genuine and counterfeit household items, drugs, movies, watches and apparels; 2. Inviting government agencies, including the DGOC, TIPO and IPR Police to discuss the latest development in regulations and enforcement. Altogether 60 representatives from Customs offices, TIPO, IPR Police and right holder groups attended the workshop.

2008/4/7 TIPO will arrange a dialogue between IP Court judges and right holder groups

As the IP Court is scheduled for commencement on July 1, 2008, TIPO has lately been receiving a number of requests from domestic and foreign right holder groups hoping to meet with IP Court judges before the court is established to help the judges understand the types of IPR infringement cases and issues of concern to the right holder groups. With the consent of the Judicial Yuan, TIPO has arranged a meeting tentatively in early May and sent invitation letters to right holder groups at home and in the U.S., Japan and Europe. 

2008/3/27 Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement is under ratification process

To address the dilemma of least-developed members plagued by public health problems, such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, but lacking the production capacity for drugs to treat these contagious diseases, WTO members approved an amendment to Article 31 of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement on December 8, 2005, and asked members to accept it before December 31, 2009. In considering that ratifying this amendment will be positive to enhancing Taiwan's participation in international affairs, the Executive Yuan decided to proceed with the ratification process on April 2, 2008. The protocol will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review and approval.

2008/2/26 2008 Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart accepts applications for exhibition starting March 10, 2008

To foster a closer relation between invention, innovation and investment and to enliven the domestic and overseas technomart investment opportunities and enable the world to "know Taiwan, come to Taiwan and invest in Taiwan," the Intellectual Property Office will sponsor the 2008 Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart at the Taipei World Trade Center from September 25 to 28, 2008.

In 2007, a total of 866 booths from 16 countries participated in the Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart. During the four-day exhibition, nearly 52,000 buyers and visitors were attracted to the exhibition, which concluded in 23 technological deals and subsequently created over 1,365 technological trading opportunities.

To enhance the effect of exhibition and move toward the goal of becoming the largest invention exhibition in Asia, the total exhibition floor space in 2008 will reach 16,500 square meters with a total of 942 standard (3m x 3m) booths. The exhibition ground is zoned into the Invention Contest Area, the Technomart Area and the National Invention Award Area. Exhibition will comprise of electronic and electrical appliances, machinery, civil engineering and building materials, transportation and communications, medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare products, textiles, daily necessities, optoelectronics and telecommunications, material and chemical engineering, biotechnology, and medical and pharmaceutical technologies and sustainable development technology, etc.

The exhibition accepts application from March 10 to June 30, 2008. Domestic and overseas manufacturers and inventors are welcome to participate in the exhibition. Application methods and applications forms are available from the Intellectual Property Office or the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) or may be downloaded from the exhibition website: http://www.inventaipei.com.tw. 

2008/1/25 Four foreign firms sent letters to TIPO in January 2008, thanking Taiwan government for the efforts in curbing counterfeits

BMW AG, Chrome Hearts, LLC, A&F Trademark Inc., and Ug Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd - Quiksilver Asia Pacific respectively sent a letter to TIPO in mid-January 2008, thanking the IPR Police for the great efforts in protecting their brandname products in 2007. The letters also complimented the active involvement and professionalism of the IPR Police in demonstrating to the international community that Taiwan is a country aggressive in cracking down IPR infringements.

2008/1/21 TIPO strives to train technical examiners and improve efficiency of patent litigation

After formulation and promulgation of the IP Court Organization Act and the IP Case Adjudication Act on March 28, 2007, the Judicial Yuan has actively readied the various preparatory works for operation of the IP Court which is scheduled to start operation in July 2008. The technical examiners to be introduced to the IP Court are planned to be capable assistants to the judges for examination of intellectual property cases. The technical examiner not only analyzes and sorts out the controversies of both parties with his/her professional knowledge in a litigation to clarify disputes and provide referential information of the professional field, but also to provide reference opinions for disputed issues and evidence interpretation and contribute to the efficiency and quality of examination of intellectual property litigations. 

In the future, the examination of intellectual property litigation cases by the IP Court will have significant influence on the industry. TIPO is the competent authority for patent, trademark and copyright and is aware of the importance of the IP Court. Hence, it has spared no efforts to assist with drafting the Regulations for IP Case Adjudication and the Implementation Guidelines IP Case Adjudication and provided training courses for judges of the IP Court and participated in the setup planning of relevant information systems. In the near future, it will also formulate regulations for selection of technical examiners for the IP Court and recommend outstanding technical examiners to the Court to improve the efficiency of examination so as to better protect the intellectual property rights owned by enterprises.

2008/1/16 Extending the response time to the examination and re-examination notice on foreign invention and design patent applications

From January 1, 2008 onwards, the response time to the examination and re-examination notice on foreign invention and design patent applications is changed from 60 to 90 days, and the applicant may apply for extension once without exceeding a total of 180 days.

2007/12/19 Trademark Act Draft Amendment

Although the Trademark Act has been revised many times, but in practice, there are still rooms for improvement. Even though Taiwan is not a member of WIPO, but in order to harmonize with the international community and to be in compliance with international trademark law conventions, amending the Trademark Act is a necessary process. In addition, amendment is called for to strengthen protection for right holders, simplify the level of administrative remedies to allow for direct administrative litigation without prior appeal, and establish an appeal organization to handle re-examination, opposition, invalidation and cancellation cases. Furthermore, provisions on trademark infringements, certified marks and collective marks need to be revised for practical purposes.

Hence, TIPO is planning to draft up a Trademark Act Amendment, and the proposed revisions will be published on TIPO's official website for reference. Since the establishment of an appeal organization is not set in stone, related provisions in the Trademark Act on re-examinations, oppositions, invalidations and cancellations (§6, 7, 15, 16, 21, 24, 31, Chapter 5 Opposition and Chapter 6 Invalidation and Cancellation) will remain unchanged for the time being. TIPO welcomes any suggestions on the revisions. A public hearing will be held when a final decision on whether to further revise the Trademark Act is made.

2007/11/3 IPR Police to continue strengthen inspection for more effective IPR protection

The October statistics for the IPR Police shows that they have uncovered 214 cases of infringements (114 for trademark, 100 for copyright). Of these, 127 involved Internet infringements, 31 cases had storefronts, 24 cases were found at night markets, and 32 cases were of other nature.

2007/11/16 IPR Police cracked down large organized crime group, over 100,000 counterfeit goods found

On October 11, the IPR Police raided a private residence in the Beitou area of Taipei City. The first-floor and basement residence covered an area of over 600 meters square and housed over 100,000 counterfeit articles of Tommy, Boss, Polo, Lacoste, plus six other brand name clothing. This was the largest counterfeit clothing warehouse ever found in Taiwan. Polo/Lauren Company wrote a note to TIPO thanking the IPR Police for a successful crackdown and acknowledged the achievement and resolution we demonstrate in IPR protection. 

2007/10/30  International Symposium on Trademark Infringement a success

The 2007 International Symposium on Trademark Infringement was held on October 2 and 3 in Taipei. Lecturers invited to the symposium included experts from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, and France. The main purpose of the symposium was to gain a better understanding of trademark laws of other countries as reference for our own trademark law revision. Lecturers from their respective countries introduced trademark regulations, regimes, remedies, and case studies to government officials, representatives from judiciary institutions, attorneys, and scholars to enrich their professional knowledge on trademark. The symposium was beneficial toward bettering our trademark protection system and was also important in strengthening our international exchange.

2007/8/10 TIPO hosts IPR training camp for Central Taiwan colleges and university students in August

This August, TIPO organized an IPR training camp at the Ministry of Economic Affairs' United Service Center for Central Taiwan. Training includes an introduction to copyright related issues on campus, patent and trademark database searches, and patent and trademark application and examination practices. Participation was very enthusiastic.

2007/8/7 Revision to "Patent Examination Guidelines, Part II Invention Patent Substantive Examination, Chapter 11 Biological Inventions" effective immediately

TIPO's Examination Standards for Biological Inventions, originally promulgated on December 12, 2002, was revised in compliance with the Patent Act and general provisions for examination guidelines implemented on July 1, 2004. Revised contents include vocabulary, definitions, and citations. Regulations for stem cell related inventions and moral considerations were amended to clarify said issue, and to promote domestic biotech industry development. Patent Act regulations on unity have also been revised in accordance with international trends, and taking into consideration international standards and examples.

2007/8/2 "Seminar on Operating Collective Management Organizations of Oral and Literary Works" concludes successfully

To assist with the operations of the Chinese Oral & Literary Copyright Intermediary Association (COLI), the first organization of its kind in Taiwan, TIPO hosted the "Seminar on Operating Collective Management Organizations of Oral and Literary Works" on July 2nd. In an effort to strengthen international cooperation and exchange, Mr. Olav Stokkmo, Secretary General of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO), and Ms. Caroline Morgan, General Manager of Corporate Services at Copyright Agency Limited (Australia) were invited to speak on PRO related operational practices and experiences, and copyright management in the digital age.

2007/7/11 Copyright Amendment on P2P Provisions Promulgated on July 11, 2007 

Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang and others proposed an amendment to the Copyright Act in January 2006, chiefly aiming at Internet service providers who advertise their providing of computer programs or technology (such as P2P file sharing programs) in return for a fee or other benefits, with the inducement that users will be allowed to file-swap unlicensed, copyright-infringing music, video, or other types of files. The amendments clarify the responsibilities of such service providers and expressly prohibit such activities. The bill was announced by Presidential order on July 11, 2007. 

2007/7/4 Status of Patent Attorney Act 

The Patent Attorney Act passed third reading at the Legislative Yuan on June 14, 2007. According to the Patent Attorney Act, patent attorneys will only be qualified for practice only if they pass the national examination and complete a pre-employment training. This Act is expected to improve the quality of patent attorneys and to ensure patent attorneys' professionalism as well as the rights of the applicants through the working of a mandatory patent attorney union.

2007/7/2  Online Bootleg Software Merchant Fined NT$740 Million and Sentenced Two Years 

In January, the Criminal Investigation Bureau arrested a man suspected of selling pirated software online. The Taoyuan District Court Judge rendered that since the pirated software was a professional software for individual usage, and that the infringement act had been ongoing for more than two years, the suspect was given a prison term of two years in addition to a civil fine of 740 million NT Dollars. The court verdict was published on the front page of the Economic Daily for a day. TIPO urges all citizens to obey the law.

2007/6/14 The 25th APEC/IPEG meeting to take place in Taipei on June 11-15, 2007 

A total of 60 representatives from the economic ministries, IPR competent agencies, and Customs of 16 member economies attended the 25th APEC/IPEG meeting in Taipei.

Major discussion topics ranged widely, from IPR protection policy, legislation, and enforcement on the part of member economies, to the exchange of information and experience on important topic of international concern. Taiwan provided reports on the establishment of the IP Court, plant variety protection system, enforcement status and results of Customs border-control measures, promoting IP management systems for businesses, non-traditional trademark system, IP-awareness educational promotion results, and the Taiwan Intellectual Property Training Academy (TIPA).

Major participants in the 25th APEC/IPEG meeting included the representatives from the APEC Member Economy, APEC Secretariat and EC-ASEAN attended. The number and level of participants involved in the 25th APEC/IPEG meeting were both higher compared with past meetings, confirming the acknowledgement of APEC member economies of Taiwan's status in the IPR-related field.

2007/6/1 Public Hearing on Draft Copyright Intermediary Organization Regulations Successfully Concluded 

To draw on international experiences, the competent agency, TIPO, researched copyright collective management regulations and operational practices from around the world as reference for discussions on compiling the "Draft Revision of the Copyright Collective Management Regulations (First Draft)," which was completed in January 2007. In order that both the public and private sectors can grasp the contents and parameters of said first revision draft and give opinions, TIPO held seven separate opinion exchange meetings aimed at intermediary organizations, and rights holder and users, between February 12 and March 14, 2007; the first revision draft was also delivered to the American Chamber of Commerce and other foreign organization to garner their input.

For more detailed and comprehensive revision content and to gather more public recommendations, TIPO held a public hearing for the second revision draft on May 30, and conducted two inter-agency consultation meetings on June 4 and 5 for further opinion exchange. The completed draft is expected to be delivered to the Legislative Yuan at the end of June.

2007/4/10 IPR police continues to strengthen inspection efforts

From January to the end of March, the IPR Police has discovered 483 instances of infringement on 1,553 outings, a 15.3% and 36.4% respective increase from the 354 instances discovered on 1,347 outings during the same period in 2006.

2007/3/8 IP Court Organic Act passes third Legislative Yuan Reading on March 5

On March 5, the IP Court Organic Act passed its third Legislative Yuan Reading. This, along with the IP Case Proceeding Act passed during the Legislative Yuan's previous session, means the IP Court is set to commence operation this fall. This greater professionalism will not only elevate the quality IP-related examinations, we can expect more efficiency in all IPR-related lawsuits and remedies, and better rights holder protection-a milestone for IPR protection in Taiwan. In the meantime, TIPO will continue to assist the Judicial Yuan with personnel and operations related preparations to ensure a functionally effective IP Court.

2006/12/1 Intellectual Property Office will notify patent owner to express their opinions before completing Utility Model reports.

From January 1st in 2007, Intellectual Property Office Ministry of Economic Affairs will provide explanation mechanism for Utility Model patentee toward non-novelty and (or) non-progression condition technical reports after completing the Utility Uodel report examination.

Utility Model had adopted the formality examination since the patent law amendment in 2004, which did not carry on the judgments of prior art research or substantial requirement to utility model applications. Having not determined the efficiency of Utility Model patent, anyone who wants to determine the substantial requirement of Utility Model should follow the Paten Law No. 103, applying for the Utility Model reports as the basis of rights exercising or techniques using. No matter how the examining results by Utility Model reports are, it only provides objective evaluation of whether Utility Model patent is fit the patent requirements or not, but not the disposition of the efficiency of Utility Model. However, once the technical reports do nod qualify novelty or progression of Utility Model, a big influence would be in the right exercising of Utility Model. In order to ensure the patent owner having the opportunity to explain before sending out the technical reports, the “Notifying descriptions of Utility Model technical reports” has been formulated to seek for the suitable Utility Model technical reports and improve the service.

The point of Notifying description of Utility Model technical reports
1. When examination staffs judge the patent application of product, which does not have qualified novelty and (or) progression requirement; when comparing the result code 1 and (or) 2, 3, under the situation of not affecting the rights of Utility Model technical reports applicant, the Utility Model patentee would be notified in advance to give explanation( about 30 days). The response or data by Utility Model patentee, before the examination staffs formally send out the Utility Model technical reports, would be judged if it could change one of the previous results. If so, examination and comparison should be made again.

2. Notifying letter not only displays the non-novelty and (or) non-progression requirement, but also marks the responding paragraphs, contents or pictures in the quoted literature; the quote would be send with notifying letter. Based on the premise of the speed of making Utility Model technical reports, no matter what the Utility Model patentee replies or not, the Intellectual Property Office would send out the Utility Model technical reports within 30 days.

This project will start in January 1st in 2007. The Intellectual Property Office in the future will keep examining the efficiency of this method, in order to search for perfect Utility Model technical reports.

2006/3/16 Another P2P Platform Crushed

Early morning on March 15, the Investigation Bureau's Taichung Station and the IFPI Taiwan successfully busted Avpeer, a company that provides P2P platform for illegal file sharing. This is the third P2P case uncovered in Taiwan, following EzPeer and Kuro in 2005.

IFPI Taiwan has been collecting evidence since January this year on Avpeer's activities, including data on users' uploads. All evidence gathered was turned over to the Investigation Bureau's Taichung Station for investigation. After more than a month of matching upload data, special agents from the Taichung Station were able to lock down two IP addresses and one company in Taichung. On the morning of March 15, the three locations were raided. The operation turned up 200G of hard disk space with over 20,000 music files, four mainframe computers and other computer equipment. More than 10,000 music files were infringement of IFPI's copyrights. The case has now forwarded to the Taichung D.A. office for further investigation.

On the same afternoon of the successful raid, the Changhua District Court sentenced five defendants involved in the Kuro's "music laundering" case ("music laundering" is a term used to describe the act of converting licensed music into other formats, and redirecting them for use in a masked legal fashion). The five defendants were found guilty of habitual copyright offense. The main suspect was given a prison term of one year and 10 months, and the remaining suspects were given one year and four months.

The government's determination in implementing IPR protection is unchallengeable. To combat computer software and Internet piracy, the government will continue to enforce its Implementation Plan for Enhancing Computer Software Protection and Implementation Plan for Strengthening Prevention Measures Against Internet Infringements, and law enforcement authorities will work closely with rights holder groups to carry out stringent inspections to stamp out illegal activities so as to protect the legal rights of law abiding citizens and groups.

2005/9/9 Taipei District Court convicted Kuro and one of its subscription members

In recent years, the development of P2P technology has put tremendous impacts on copyright protection. This is especially apparent when software service providers do not monitor user downloads strictly and allow transmission of unlicensed copyrighted works. After a verdict from the Taipei Shilin District Court on June 30, 2005, when ezPeer was acquitted, all eyes have since been on the long anticipated case of Kuro. On September 9, the Taipei District Court convicted Kuro and one of its subscription members on the following counts:

1. Chen, a subscription member of Kuro's service, was convicted for violation of reproduction rights and sentenced to four-month imprisonment (may be suspended for three years). Chen was found guilty by the court for downloading over 900 unlicensed songs.
2. Kuro's management, ST Chen, KH Chen, and KX Chen were fully aware of the illegal downloads that their service provides, but continued to attract subscribers and earn subscription fees through boasting advertisements of their over 100,000 available pop music for downloads. Therefore, the infringement act of the above member was foreseeable, and the original intended service that Kuro advertised was met. Thus, the management and the member share common guilty intention and responsibility for their actions. All four were ruled joint offenders.
3. To expand their service for MP3 exchange, the three defendants hired helpers via a third party to reproduce MP3s illegally for members to download. This act constituted vocational offense since the illegal copying was a continuous business that the three defendants were involved in. The three defendants were thus sentenced to two- to three-year imprisonment.

If use legally, download and transmission of copyrighted works on the Internet via P2P is a convenient mean to share information and foster electronic businesses. However, if the technology is used in an illegal manner, the impact on copyright holders and related industry is beyond repair. If software developers and providers benefit from their provision of the software, are aware of the infringement potentials of the software, and are capable of controlling and managing the actions of the software users, the providers may be legally liable for the infringement acts of their users. Users (members) of online services should be aware that the scope of reasonable use on the Internet is very limited, and the probability of copyright violation is extremely high when one engages in public transmission and reproduction of copyrighted works. This verdict on P2P providers and user is a good demonstration of how both parties can be legally liable for their actions.

TIPO urges all P2P service providers to establish business licensing with right holders before offering their service to the public. Legal licensing of copyrighted works is a three-win situation that benefits and protects right holders, consumers, and Internet service providers. The verdict on this Kuro case affirms users' civil and criminal liabilities in using P2P for illegal reproduction and transmission of copyrighted works. TIPO also urges Internet users to be aware of the legal liabilities involved in transmitting and reproducing copyrighted works (music, recordings, movies, or written works), and should obtain legal licensing from right holders or use the work within reason to avoid criminal or civil actions against them.

2005/7/4 TIPO's Statement on EzPeer's Verdict

The development of P2P technology in recent years comes as a severe impact to copyright protection, as some software operators use the technology for file sharing without obtaining authorization from the copyright owner. Infringement problems that arise from the technology have alarmed authorities around the world. On June 27, 2005, the US Supreme Court found Grokster, a P2P operator, guilty of copyright infringement. On June 30, the Shilin District Court ruled EzPeer, a local P2P operator, not guilty of providing file-sharing platform for users to engage in public transmission and download (reproduction) of copyrighted materials.

According to the Shilin District Court, the defendant did not engage in illegal transmission or reproduction, nor had it been "partner in crime" with its users in transmitting or reproducing copyrighted work. Under the principles of "criminal law as last resort" and the principles of "criminal punishment can be imposed only when legal norms explicitly stipulates to such effect", the court ruled that EzPeer and its president, Weber Wu, are not guilty of infringement. Whether the defendant is liable for civil offense is not within the ruling of this criminal case, said the court.

The administrative departments believe that the application of P2P on the Internet should follow the principle of technology neutrality. In other words, developers and providers of the technology should not be legally liable for the development and supply of the technology, but rather, legal liability should be based on the application of the technology in individual cases. If the provider profits from supplying such technology, is fully aware of the infringement activities of its users, and is capable of governing and controlling such activities, then the provider may be legally liable for infringement. Since the scope for reasonable use is narrow and limited, users who publicly transmit and reproduce copyrighted work online are at high risk of

committing copyright infringements. Although users might have paid a subscription fee to use the file-sharing platform, but if the materials have not been licensed, sharing them would still constitutes an act of infringement.

The verdict by the Shilin District Court surely will bring disappointment to right holders and attention from the international community. Under the principle of judiciary independence, the administrative departments respect the rulings of the court. This is only the first ruling. In addition, as the court has indicated, this ruling only aimed at the defendant's criminal offense, not its civil liabilities. TIPO will continue to follow future actions that prosecutors and right holders take-whether appeals will be filed or civil remedies be sought.

Nonetheless, the non-guilty verdict was only directed at the defendant for providing a file-swapping platform. The court has stated clearly in the verdict that users using P2P to transmit and reproduce copyrighted materials may still be liable for copyright infringement. The administrative departments urge the public to be aware not to misinterpret the ruling as being legal to use P2P to transmit and reproduce copyrighted materials (including music, sound recordings, movies, writings). The public should use and obtain copyrighted materials legally to avoid any legal actions against them.

2005/4/8 : The first utility model technology report was issued

The first utility model technology report was issued on March 30, 2005 since the new Taiwan patent law was enforced. This is a new stage to Taiwan utility model patent system.

In order to protect utility model patent application fixed on the products of short life time, TIPO grants the utility patent right without a substantive examination but a formality verification to qualify the relative constrains, so that the patentee may get the utility model patent right soon, but the patentee must prompt a utility model technology report to the infringer before the utility model patent right will be invoked.

The utility model patent technology report is significant to the invoking of utility model patent right of a patentee and the industry development. For the utility model technology report, TIPO appoints an examiner to evaluate the novelity, non-obviousility, whether to violate the filing first principle of each claim according to the patents or documents searched. If the comparison code of claim is 1,2,3,4 or 5, it means to deny the evaluation of the utility model patent. If the comparison code is 6, it means to affirm the evaluation.

"TIPO will complete the utility model patent technology report to the applicant before the statutory due-time as soon as possible, so as to let the patentee to decide whether to claim the right for the reference ",TIPO said. For the situation of the third party to apply the report, the third party may also to decide to face the utility model patent.

2004/6/28

　　Taiwan patent law take some reform on July 1, 2004:

1. The opposition system will be abolished. Once the patent is approved, the applicant can apply the patent certification to own patent right soon. The people who have any comments can file an invalidation to the patent.

2. The due days of re-examination and re-filing will extend to 60 days from 30 days.

3. The invention application will be examined claim by claim.

4. Nature persons, schools and small businesses can apply the reduction of patent annuity. The amount is 800 TWD every year between 1 to 3 years, and 1200TWD every year between 4 to 6 years.

5.In order to process the patent infringement quickly, TIPO should take priority to examine the invalidation involving infringement.

6. For the utility model patent, any people can apply a utility model technology report. If utility model patentees invoke the patent right without applying this report to result a damage of other people, the patentee may be responsible to compensate.

2003/9/28

After three rounds of careful evaluation process for three months, the winners’ list of the annual National Invention Award has been declared. The evaluation of National Invention Award depends on how applicants’ patent inventions or creations contribute to related industries. The competitive items of the award contain “quantities of patents” and “the value and implementation of patent products”. For corporations, there’s one additional item “encouragement of inventions and creations for employees”.

According to the 12th “National Evaluation Committee of Invention and Creation”, the key successful factor for the winning corporation is the development of patent and protection of intellectual property with sound measures. For example, San Fang Chemical Industry Co., LTD who won the golden metal is very famous and outstanding in the field of chemical fiber material. Also, its R&D team has continuously innovated, researched and developed new technology so the technological level is top-notch with great market value. Delta Electronics, Inc who won the silver metal established a patent department in 2000 which helps to raise Delta’s quantity of patent application in the internal market from the 34th place in 1998 to the 12th place in the last year. Besides, Holtek Semiconductor Inc. who won the bronze medal has measures to encourage invention, emphasizes to educate employees about intellectual property, constantly holds training programs about IPR, and develops employees with careful plans. Holtek Semiconductor Inc. invests 10% of annual revenue to research and develop new products and technologies. Its dedication on “general embedded micro control unit” had made the company the first one proposing micro control unit in industrialized scale.

The individual award winners possess following significant characteristics. First, the innovations are with high economic and industrial value. Second, a large amount of manufacturing and technology transfer costs are significantly saved. For example, the “adjustable multifunctional” invented by Mr. Gang-Chiang Hsu is already a seller with tens of million NT dollars; toys, jewelries and furniture invented by Mr. How-Wen Liu are with over tens of million revenue; Mr. Chuen-cheng Chiu’s extensive invention includes automatic mandarin identifying technology, immediate translating technology, database processing technology, and internet transmitting technology. These inventions have already contributed extremely toward the R&D technology of IT products, and the competitiveness in the industry. In addition, Mr. Tsung-Ming Wu’s patent has already been promoted and adopted by manufacturers of wafer such as TSMC, YiShun, Atai Digital Technology, Inc., and Prosys Technology Integration, Inc., which saves a lot of manufacturing overheads. Mr. Fu-chu Chou’s invention is applied on “spin coating”, which saves a billion on manufacturing costs.

2003/8/27

TIPO ( Taiwan Intellectual Property Office) announced the patent license format will be simplified after January 1, 2004. In the future, the publication copy, the silk ribbon and the certified label will not be attached in the patent license in order to shorten the procedure time. So, the patentee may obtain the patent license sooner then before.

2003/1/3

Taiwan became a member of WTO on January 1, 2002. According to TRIPs Agreement, all foreign applicant of which the country is the member of WTO can file a Taiwan Patent or a Taiwan Trademark based on the priority date. TIPO will devote to the international cooperation to make Taiwan IPR to meet the world requirement.

2002/10/26

The substantial examination is enforced and Some of relative Taiwan Patent Official fees was regulated as follows:

Description
Fees

(TW Dollars)

Filing an invention patent application
2000

Request for examination for an invention patent application
6000

2001/11/21

Taiwan Patent Official(government) fees was regulated largely as follows:

Description
Fees

(TW Dollars)

Filing an Invention Application of Invalidation
Applying for Extension of Patent Term
Applying for Compulsory License of Patent
9,000

Filing a Utility Model Application of Invalidation
8,500

Filing a Design Patent Application of Invalidation
8,000

Filing a Request for Re-examination of a Design Patent
Filing a Design Patent Application of Opposition
Recordal of Assignment or Inheritance for the Right to Apply for Patent
Recordal of Trust of Patent Right
Request for an Inspection of the Experiments, Models or Specimens Conducted/submitted
3,500

Applying for Re-issuance of a Decision
Applying for a Certified Copy of a Document
600

Request for Inspection of the File Wrapper
600

Change Other than Those Made with Respect to the Specification or Drawings

Recordal of Other Changes to Patent Trust
300

Register as a Patent Agent
90

Applying for Re-issuance of the Letters Patent
1,250

Filing an Invention Application

(Specification and Drawings are not in Excess of 50 Pages)
Filing a Request for Re-examination of an Invention Application
(Specification and Drawings are not in Excess of 50 Pages)

Filing an Invention Application of Opposition
Applying for Conversion of an Application into an Invention Application
Filing a Divisional Invention Application
6,000

Invention Application Filed by Using the Two-dimensional Code Application Form or by Electronic Means Designated by the Patent Authority (Specification and Drawings are not in Excess of 50 Pages)
5,500

Filing a Utility Model Application

(Specification and Drawings are not in Excess of 50 Pages)
Filing a Request for Re-examination of a Utility Model Application
(Specification and Drawings are not in Excess of 50 Pages)

Filing a Divisional Utility Model Application
Applying for Conversion of an Application into a Utility Model Application
Filing a Utility Model Application of Opposition
4,500

Utility Model Application Filed by Using the Two-dimensional Code Application Form or by Electronic Means Designated by the Patent Authority (Specification and Drawings are not in Excess of 50 Pages)
4,000

Filing a Design Patent Application
Filing an Associated Design Patent Application
Applying for Conversion of an Application into a Design Patent Application
Filing a Divisional Design Patent Application
3,000

Correction of Specification or Drawings
Request for an Interview
Filing Supplements or Amendments to the Specification or Drawings for an allowed and Published Application
Recordal of Assignment or Inheritance for the Patent Right
Recordal of Obliteration or Ownership of Patent Trust
2,000

Filing an Application for Supplemental Brief or Evidence in an Opposition or Invalidation
Filing Supplements or Amendments to the Specification or Drawings for a Pending Application
1,000

Surcharge of Filing an Invention or Utility Model or a Request for Re-examination of an Application where the Specification and Drawings are in excess of 50 pages: Each Additional 50 Pages over the First Fifty; Pages Less than Fifty Shall be Counted as Fifty
500

Issuance Fee
2,500

Annual Fees for Maintaining a Granted Patent in Force:

1st to 3rd Years
2,500 (Annually)

Annual Fees for Maintaining a Granted Patent in Force:

4th to 6th Years

Annual Fee for a Patent Granted an Extend Duration
5,000 (Annually)

Annual Fees for Maintaining a Granted Patent in Force:

7th to 9th Years
10,000

(Annually)

Annual Fees for Maintaining a Granted Patent in Force:

10th to 20th Years
20,000

(Annually)

Annual Fees for Maintaining a Granted Patent in Force:

21st to the Subsequent Years
40,000

(Annually)

Recordal of License or Pledge over Patent Right
4,000