TIPS^®  Taiwan Intellectual Property Special

Legislators Completed Preliminary Review for the Establishment of IP Court

The Legislative Yuan (Taiwan Congress) completed the preliminary review of the draft of the Organization Act for the Intellectual Property Court in May 2006, and it is expected that a special court and prosecutors’ division for handling intellectual property matter can be implemented in March 2007.

Under the current legal system in Taiwan, the parties of intellectual property dispute will have to launch civil or criminal actions in local district courts. The difference between the views toward IP protection and the degree of sophistication in various district courts creates the chance of forum shopping. Moreover, the parties have to go through the administrative procedures (i.e. the TIPO) for patent validity issue and then bring the infringement issue to the general court in order to obtain civil remedies. Not only the current practice prolongs the resolution process of IP disputes, but the lack of a centralized court also results in inconsistent opinion.

There are still some provisions that may need more discussion in the Legislative Yuan, such as the qualification of the technical experts in the IP court to assist the judge in technical evaluation. Besides, the Judicial Yuan believes that, while the IP court should be the court of first instance for the civil matters, the court of first instance for criminal cases should remain in the local district courts since minor IP infringement offenses can be handled under the general criminal procedure.

Despite the controversial provisions, the Legislative Yuan is expected to pass the Law in the next session, and the IP court will be able to establish as scheduled in March 2007.