Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has submitted amendments to each of the Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Acts in accordance with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to the Executive Yuan. TIPO's submission of these amendments is a necessary step that should be regarded internationally as a positive step forward. The following are the key points of the amendments:
- Amendments to the Trademark Act:
- The requirement for a finding of trademark infringement that results in civil liability should not be restricted to the defendant "knowing" that he is committing infringement, and the defendant should be found to be infringing a trademark right if he committed the offending activity while "having reasonable grounds to know" that he was committing infringement; therefore, the present requirement restricted to "knowing" as stipulated at Article 68 of the Trademark Act will be deleted, accordingly.
- The manufacture, possession, displaying, selling, exporting or importing labels, tags, packages, or containers that use a mark that is identical or similar to a registered trademark may give rise to criminal as well as the existing civil liability.
- Amendments to the Copyright Act:
- Currently, prosecutors initiate action for infringement of the public transmission right only when a complaint is submitted by a copyright holder. Per the proposed amendment, infringement of the public transmission right will result in criminal liability without the necessity of a complaint being filed by the copyright holder.
- Currently, prosecutors initiate action only when an infringing copy of a work is made to an optical disk and is being distributed by a person not authorized to do so. Under the proposed amendment, if an infringing copy distributed by a person is made in any digital form, the offender will be charged and face criminal liability without the necessity of the copyright holder submitting a complaint.
- Amendments to the Patent Act:
Per the proposed amendment, a patentee may file a patent infringement complaint in accordance with Article 96.1 of the Patent Act after its receipt of notification by an applicant for a generic drug permit as stipulated at Article 48-12.1 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. However, if the patentee does not file a patent infringement complaint within the period stipulated at Article 48-13.1 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, the applicant for the generic drug permit will be permitted to file a complaint to confirm the existence of any infringement.
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