Judicial Yuan Approves Two Intellectual Property Rights-Related Laws

       The Judicial Yuan moved to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in Taiwan by giving its approval to a draft Intellectual Property Court Organizational Act and a draft Act for the Hearing of Intellectual Property Cases on Feb. 17, and asking the Executive Yuan’s consent to jointly send the bills to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation and enactment. The Intellectual Property Court will be established in March 2007 at the earliest.

　　These two bills mark an important step in strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights. They follow up previous steps, including a revision of the Copyright Law to increase penalties for pirating, establish the Intellectual Property Rights Police (IPRP), and increase on rewards for tips leading to the resolution of cases of the sale of pirated products over the Internet.

　　The Judicial Yuan points out that intellectual property cases frequently involve specialized high-tech know-how and that business secrets need to be protected during the process of litigation. In addition, the market cycle of many intellectual-property products is very short and litigants need timely relief. For these reasons, the establishment of special courts and special litigation procedures has become an international trend. The two IP laws, for which the Judicial Yuan began planning in February of 2005, will help to bring speedy resolution to patent, trademark, copyright, and other civil, criminal, and administrative cases brought by domestic and foreign companies in Taiwan.

　　The draft Intellectual Property Court Organizational Act contains 46 articles in eight chapters: general provisions; judges and appointment qualifications; technology investigators and their allocation; the allocation of law clerks and other personnel; the judicial year and distribution of business; court opening, closing, and order; monitoring of judicial administration, and supplementary rules. Since IP cases frequently involve specialized technology issues, technology investigators will be appointed to help judges in reaching decisions. If necessary, the Judicial Yuan will be able to hire or borrow experts with professional IP know-how to serve as technology investigators. To provide a supply of IP judges, the Judicial Yuan will hold an IP Judge Training Course from March 6 to July 7 this year.

　　The draft Act for the Hearing of Intellectual Property Cases contains 39 articles in five chapters: general provisions, civil action, criminal action, administrative action, and supplementary rules. The act provides for the hearing of cases via videoconferencing. To view the contents of the two draft IP laws, please go online and consult this website: http://jirs.judicial.gov.tw/GNNWS/NNWSS002.asp?id=3543.

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