AIT and TECRO ink MOU on IPR Enforcement

　On February 22, 2017, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US (TECRO) inked a “Memorandum of Understanding on IPR Enforcement” to strengthen AIT-TECRO cooperation with respect to investigation on violations of IPR laws and acts of trade fraud and also share of practices, techniques, and information in law enforcement.  By signing this MOU, Taiwan and the US will implement transnational and cross-disciplinary collaboration as a significant milestone for Taiwan-US IPR cooperation for reinforcing Taiwan-US cooperation. 

　With the development of new technologies and the Internet, IP crimes have not only become widespread around the world but also constantly occurred in their new forms, which has posed a daunting challenge to the legal framework of IPR enforcement.  The MOU will join hands to promote exchanges of law enforcement practices, information, training, and professional knowledge of combating counterfeit imported/exported products and pirated copyrighted works.  In the future, the prosecutorial, the police, and the customs administration authorities, including the Department of Prosecutorial Affairs under the Ministry of Justice, the Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency under the Ministry of the Interior, and the Customs Administration under the Ministry of Finance will have more intensive cooperation with the US in regard to investigation on cross-border crimes and new patterns of crimes and share technologies and practices, so as to ultimately defeat IP crimes and construct law enforcement capability. 

　Taiwan has been giving weight to IPR protection.  It is foreseeable that this MOU will enhance and fulfill Taiwan-US cooperation in law enforcement and further create an IPR-friendly environment favorable to industrial innovation and creative culture development.  (March 2017)
/CCS