Legislature Proposed Putting IPR Protection Issues on the Agenda of the 5th Round of Cross-Strait Talks.

It is common for Taiwanese businesses operating and agricultural products distributed in China to undergo plagiarism and infringement with respect to their patents, trademarks, trade secrets as counterfeiting has been thriving in China.  According to China Credit Information Service, Ltd.’s investigation, there had been 178 patent disputes occurring in China for the past three years, that is, a patent dispute arising in Chinese market every six days in average.

Seeing the aggravated circumstance of infringement in China, Taiwanese legislature proposed to list the issue of protection over trademark and patent on the agenda of the upcoming 5th Chiang-Chen Talks.  The director of TIPO, Wang Mei-Hua indicated that the issues with respect to request for recognition of patent priority right, intellectual property right cooperation, and Taiwanese certified patent attorney’s qualification for Chinese patent attorney examination may be the top priority if IPR issues are to be addressed in the upcoming cross-strait dialogue.  Wang said that both sides have been lacking an affirmatively established cooperation channel and mechanism to handle IPR disputes while the interaction between both sides intensifies.  To include IPR issues in talks agenda is to set up a system for IP dispute resolution.

According to Paris Convention and WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, WTO members should mutually accept a claim for right of priority for patent or trademark applications to avoid forfeit of the elements of novelty and inventive step of a patent.  However, the issue of national equity and reciprocity has lied in the way of cross-strait mutual recognition of priority right.

At present, protection over Taiwanese trademarks is implemented only by information provided by supplier or consumers, and Taiwan and China governments can provide assistance only on case-by-case basis.  That is why the governments of both sides expect to have IPR issues addressed in the cross-strait talks to establish a sound reporting and resolution mechanism.  In addition to trademark protection, copyright protection is expected to be included as an issue, the ultimate purpose of which is to provide dual protection claimable both in Taiwan and China.

Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council indicated in a press conference that Taiwan government has been greatly concerned about preemptive registration of the trademarks for some famous Taiwanese agricultural products in China, such as, “Alishan” or “Shan Lin Xi” since three years ago and convened relevant authorities to map out relevant measures.  After that, China’s State Administration for Industry & Commerce had once paid an official visits to TIPO and stated that the registration of some Taiwanese trademarks which were preemptively completed in China had been cancelled.

According to the Council of Agriculture (COA), trademarks are subject to the principle of territoriality and protected only within the countries where they have been registered.  COA has been providing guidance and advice to local governments, organizations, and businesses on completing both regular national and international registration for their trademarks.  In fact, national regular filings for 15 trademarks of Taiwanese agricultural products have been successfully completed, which include “Alishan Tea”, “Siluo Jhuoshuei rice”, and “Penghu high quality seafood”, etc..  COA will further assist Taiwanese businesses to retain their trademarks internationally.  Furthermore, in an effort to create high distinctiveness of Taiwanese agricultural products and reinforce their protection in China, COA has registered the “Certified Agricultural Standards” (CAS) label for Taiwan’s premium agricultural and organic products, and “Good Manufacturing Practice” (GMP) mark for safe vegetables and fruits in China. (2009.11)
/CCS