Taiwan Council of Agriculture Expects a Strait Talk on Plant Variety Right and Trademark Right.

Taiwan’s agricultural products become threateningly susceptible to infringement by Chinese dealers as agricultural interaction across the Taiwan Straits continues and steps up.  According to Taiwan Council of Agriculture, Taiwanese applications for “variety right” of young soybean (aka. maodou in Chinese) have been filed in Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand, and as a result thereof, any young soybean of the same variety but not coming from Taiwan would be restricted from importation.  Taiwan Council of Agriculture is now seeking a possibility of including “variety right” and “trademark right” as an issue of Taiwan-China dialogue so as to safeguard Taiwan’s agricultural products from infringement.

The trademark registrations of Taiwan’s celebrated agricultural products, A Li Shan tea, Dong Ding OoLong tea, and Gu Keng coffee were outflanked by Chinese dealers two years ago, which had triggered a great disturbance.  Production technology and variety are the most important two factors of the development of agricultural products.  It is undeniable that transfer of these farmers who possess cultivation techniques to China would cause a drain on technology, and also on plant seedling cultivated and developed in Taiwan’s geographical and climatic conditions and thus featured by its own specific quality level. 

In the past few years, Taiwan’s young soybean distributed to Japan had once been replaced by that from China, the quality of which, however, falls far behind that planted in Taiwan.  More than that, young soybean from China also poses many problems in food safety control, such as, pesticide residues.

The most important and urgent task is to safeguard the new variety cultivated in Taiwan from being infringed by the nationals of other countries.  For example, Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station has filed an application for the variety right of young soybean in Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand, etc..  For right protection, DNA test serves as a means of verifying plant variety, by which any young soybean of the same variety not coming from Taiwan would be restricted from importation.

Cross-Strait negotiations on IP right protection issue have been going on.  Taiwan Council of Agriculture is now seeking a consensus with China on “variety right” and “trademark right” issues.  If both sides could come to consensus by an agreement, it will uphold protection over Taiwanese agricultural products under variety right protection by legally disallowing cultivation and use of Taiwanese registered trademarks of such Taiwanese agricultural products.  (2009.07)
/CCS