Taiwan IP Court’s Caseload Will Be Much Heavier Than That in Germany and Japan.

E080515Y6 Jun. 2008（E103）

The Judicial Yuan’s statistics show that there is a rapid increase in IP cases lodged with district courts with a yearly caseload of 3,500 increasing to 4,500 cases from 2004 to 2006, in which circumstance, the IP Court is established to expedite examination of IPR related cases. In preliminary operation, the IP court is staffed with eight judges and nine technical examiners to accept and handle approximately 2,500 to 3,500 cases. In addition, the IP Court accepts and hears new IP cases only, and other IPR-related cases previously lodged with and in process at district courts will be finalized thereby, but not transferred to the IP Court. The judges at district courts shall decide on whether or not to refer new IPR related cases to the IP Court.

According to the Judicial Yuan, German Federal Patent Court consists of 61 judges and 57 technically qualified judges to hear 3,000 cases a year, and Japan Intellectual Property High Court has 15 judges, 11 investigative officers to examine 550 to 600 cases per year. The caseload size of German Federal Patent Court and Japan Intellectual Property High Court is much smaller than that of Taiwan’s IP Court. Compared with Germany and Japan, a yearly caseload of 3,000 cases and the smaller staff size would contribute to decelerating examination of IP cases.

In preliminary operation stage of IP court, nine patent examiners are temporarily transferred to the IP court from the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. Among the 9 patent examiners, 4 to 5 possess expertise in machinery, 2 to 3 in electronic semi-conductor, 1 in chemical engineering, and 1 in biotechnology and medicine.

IPR-Related Cases Filed and Closed from 2004 to 2007
Year	2004		2005		2006		January to August in 2007
Year	New	Closed	New	Closed	New	Closed	New	Closed
Civil cases at District Courts	-	384	511	401	546	530	291	286
Civil cases at High Court	-	77	153	107	166	135	94	106
Criminal cases at District Courts	2,539	2,123	2,576	2,196	2,733	2,254	2,020	1,668
Criminal cases at High Court	369	391	342	290	314	311	213	224
Cases at High Administrative Court	655	816	636	748	717	756	376	535
Total	3,563	3,791	4,218	3,742	4,476	3,968	2,994	2,819