The MOEA has taken a positive step toward improving management and inspection of imported goods with the adoption of the “Implementation Program for Joint Inspection Team on non-compliant Products”. The plan is a collaboration of efforts by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Department of Health, Council of Agriculture, and Coast Guard Administration, and will be responsible for special inspection of suspicious import goods entering Taiwan. The establishment...

Purpose IPR protection is fundamental to industrial interests and national competitiveness, and is therefore an important industrial policy for countries the world over. As trade across the Taiwan Strait becomes more active, disputes over IPR application, protection and infringement also increase. These problems are the result of the increasing trading and investment activities as well as from the fact that both sides of the Strait use the same language. IPR protection...

To ensure the continued development of local specialty industries and traditional arts in Taiwan and enhance their competitiveness in the marketplace, TIPO in 2009 published the Directory of Well-known Geographical Names and Characteristics, a list of 346 Taiwanese geographical origins of famous local specialties from agricultural, fishing, animal farming and handicraft industries. The existence of the directory helps prevent these local names and products from being misused or registered as...

IPR Police investigators broke open a landmark IPR infringement case in the ‘Computer Alley’ area of Kaohsiung City in May 2010. An investigation team raided a business on Kaohsiung’s Jianguo Road, discovering a supply of over 20,000 pirated DVDs and Blu-Ray disks, along with over 70 DVD and Blu-Ray burners. The case marks the first-ever large-scale seizure of pirated Blu-Ray disks in Taiwan. Among the movie titles seized were ‘Fish...

In May 2010, the National Police Agency (NPA) uncovered 304 cases of IPR infringement (169 trademark cases and 135 copyright cases). The copyright infringements of overseas products included 23 cases involving parties from the U.S., 14 cases involving parties from Japan, and 6 cases involving other countries.