News
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Executive Yuan Approves Draft Amendments to the Copyright Act and the Trademark Act on January, 20, 2022 for Bid to Join CPTPP
In order to facilitate Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), TIPO has proposed amendments to the Copyright Act and the Trademark Act based on differences in regulations found in 2016 between the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement (CPTPP’s original incarnation) and those of Taiwan. As the review procedure of the proposed amendments were not finished by the Legislative Yuan during the previous (9th) term, they were resubmitted to the Executive Yuan in 2020 and have just been approved by the 3787th meeting on January 20th, 2022. The drafts have been submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review and once ratified into laws, will be able to enhance deterrence against copyright and trademark infringement, further protect the interests of consumers and copyright holders, and facilitate Taiwan’s international participation and regional competitiveness in economic trade.Main draft amendments to the Copyright Act:To better safeguard the rights of copyright holders, amendments have been made such that instances of illegal digital piracy, distribution, and public transmission constituting a serious infringement are now considered an offense that is actionable without complaint (i.e., indictable), and “infringement of work provided not for free by another person,” “reproduction in their original form (100% reproduction),” “infringements causing damages exceeding one million New Taiwan Dollars” are listed as the three conditions for determining an instance of serious infringement (amendments to Article 100).As optical discs no longer constitute a main source of infringement and are included within the scope of digital piracy defined in amendments to Article 100, the increased penalties under the current law for the indictable offense of reproduction and distribution of pirated optical discs have become redundant and thus been deleted, and will revert to general liabilities for reproduction and distribution. Corresponding provisions of confiscation and forfeiture have also been deleted accordingly (deletion of Article 91 paragraph 3, Article 91-1 paragraph 3, Article 98, and Article 98-1).Main draft amendments to the Trademark Act:According to the existing Trademark Act, the subjective condition for counterfeiting labels to be held civilly liable is that the acts were carried out “knowingly.” This condition has been deleted and will revert to “intentional” and “negligent” acts, i.e. the subjective conditions for general civil damages (amendments to Article 68).To enhance the sales and profit of trademark owners and ensure the protection of trademarks, criminal provisions for counterfeiting labels of trademarks or collective trademarks have been added, and criminal liabilities now apply to some preparatory and contributory acts of infringement including the importation of counterfeit labels and packaging of trademarks (amendments to Article 95).With respect to counterfeiting labels of certification marks and selling or intending to sell infringing goods made by another person, the subjective condition for these acts to be held criminally liable is that the acts were carried out “knowingly.” To meet social expectations of justice, this subjective condition has been deleted and will revert to “intentional” acts for criminal penalties, which includes indirectly intentional acts that can be foreseen to cause infringement (amendments to Articles 96 and 97). - 102
Top 100 Patent Applicants in 2021
According to TIPO’s 2021 Statistical Rankings for Patent Applications and Grants, TSMC was the top domestic applicant for invention, utility model, and design patents, with 1,950 applications filed. The company has held on to its lead for the sixth consecutive year now. As for foreign applicants, Qualcomm claimed the top spot for the second year in a row, having filed a total of 845 applications. With respect to the number of patents granted for all three patent types, TSMC led the pack for domestic applications (1,053 patents granted), and Applied Materials was the most successful foreign applicant (492 patents granted). Invention patent applications by domestic corporations and research institutions of the top 100 went up by 17% and 11% respectively.TSMC is top domestic applicant for the sixth year in a rowAs regards domestic applicants, TSMC has consistently filed the most applications since 2016. In 2021, that number surged by 78% to 1,950 cases, followed by AU Optronics (471 cases). Realtek Semiconductor (442 cases) and Nanya Tech (290 cases) each filed their highest number of applications ever, coming in fourth and sixth, respectively. Delta Electronics moved back into top 10 with 205 applications (+18%) (Table 1).The top 100 domestic patent applicants filed 12,234 cases in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 8%. This is mainly driven by a 13% rise in the number of invention patent applications (share of 75%), which came from corporations (+17%) and research institutions (+11%). The filings in design patent applications also grew by 1%. However, the filings in utility model patent applications fell by 7%, mainly due to a decrease of 20% in school applicants (Figure 1, Figure 2).Six banks among top 100 domestic applicants – MEGA International Commercial Bank takes lead; Hua Nan Bank applies for the most invention patentsThere were six banks among the top 100 domestic patent applicants in 2021. MEGA International Commercial Bank (165 cases) headed the list of patent applications, followed by CTBC Bank (155 cases) and Taiwan Cooperative Bank (144 cases). All the top 3 domestic banks marked a growth of 53% - 85%. For a second consecutive year, Hua Nan Bank (46 cases) remained in the top position for bank invention patent applications (Table 3).Among school applicants, Taipei City University of Science and Technology leads in overall patent applications, while National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University is most active in invention patentsTwenty-eight schools were among the top 100 domestic applicants for overall patents. The Taipei City University of Science and Technology ranked first with 170 applications. Meanwhile, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (135 cases) claimed first place in school rankings for invention patent applications. This is followed by National Cheng Kung University (102 cases), National Taiwan University (86 cases) and National Tsing Hua University (86 cases) (Table 4).Industrial Technology Research Institute remains in top position for invention patent applications filed by research institutionsFive research centers were also among the top 100 domestic applicants for patents of any type. Placing fifth in the overall rankings was the Industrial Technology Research Institute with 404 applications. Behind it was the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (89 cases) (Table 5).Qualcomm heads foreign patent applicants for a second consecutive yearAs for the top 10 foreign applicants, Qualcomm remained at the top with 845 patent applications, marking an increase of 17%. Altogether, there were four semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the top ten: Applied Materials (793 cases), Tokyo Electron (477 cases), and DISCO (225 cases) came in second, fifth and tenth, respectively. In addition, ASML (265 cases) filed its highest number of applications and moved up to number eight. Samsung Electronics ranked fourth with 520 cases, marking the highest growth rate of 98% among the top 10 (Table 2).The top 100 foreign patent applicants filed 14,149 cases (+5%) in 2021, of which invention patent applications accounted for 87%. The filings in invention patent applications rose by 5%, while utility model and design patent applications also grew by 3% and 6% respectively (Figure 3). - 103
TIPO Statistics Report: Patent and Trademark Applications in 2021
In 2021, overall patent applications increased by 1% to 72,613 cases. Of these, invention patent applications (49,116 cases) grew by 5%, while utility model (15,796 cases) and design patent applications (7,701 cases) decreased by 10% and 4% respectively. For trademark applications, 95,917 cases were filed—the highest number recorded ever since TIPO was founded in 1999. As to examination efficiency, the average disposal pendency was 14.0 months for invention patent applications and decreased to 6.2 months for trademark applications.Resident invention applications highest since 2014 with growth seen in industry and research institutes Invention patent applications (19,547 cases) filed by residents hit their highest level since 2014. This was due to a 6% rise in the number of applications by corporations, with those filed by large enterprises alone increasing by 9%. Meanwhile, applications by research institutes also saw a growth of 2%. However, utility model (14,543 cases) and design applications (3,534 cases) went down by 12% and 10% respectively due to the decreases in the corporation and individual sectors (Table 1, Figure 2, Figure 3). As for non-residents, there was an overall increase in applications for invention (29,569 cases), utility model (1,253 cases), and design (4,167 cases) patents, seeing a growth of 7%, 13%, and 2% respectively (Table 1, Figure 2).Japan claims top spot in non-resident patent applicationsA breakdown by applicant nationality shows that Japan continued to top the list with 13,324 overall applications, followed by the US (7,986 cases) and mainland China (4,253 cases), while South Korea (2,388 cases) had the highest growth rate among the top 5 countries. Japan also led in the number of invention and design patent applications, and mainland China surpassed other countries in utility model applications (Figure 4).Overall trademark applications reach record high due to growth in resident and non-resident applicationsAs for trademarks, the number of applications reached 95,917 cases (covering 123,217 classes), showing a growth of 2%. This was mainly due to a 2% and 3% increase in resident (73,374 cases) and non-resident applications (22,543 cases) respectively (Table 1, Figure 5, Figure 6).Among the top 5 trademark-filing countries or regions, mainland China (4,929 cases) took the lead, followed by the US (4,032 cases) and Japan (3,437 cases). Applications filed by mainland China and the US were up 8% and 6% respectively, while those by Japan were down 14% from last year (Figure 7).Class 35 (business operation) and Class 9 (computer and technology products) of the Nice Classification reports the strongest growth in resident and non-resident trademark filings respectivelyWith regard to resident trademark applications, Class 35 (advertisements and business operation) topped the list with 15,034 classes, marking an increase of 13% (Figure 8). Among resident applicants, UNI-PRESIDENT ranked first with 567 classes, followed by TAIWAN FAMILYMART (180 classes) and KING CAR FOOD (147 classes) (Figure 9).Regarding non-resident trademark applications, Class 9 (computer and technology products) led with 4,502 classes, while Class 42 (scientific and technological services) recorded the strongest growth with 20% (Figure 8). Among non-resident applicants, BUNNY GIRL led with 135 classes, followed by XIAOMI (132 classes) and SHISEIDO (107 classes) (Figure 9).Invention patent and trademark application pendency remain stableTIPO went full throttle to step up examination efficiency. As a result, the average disposal pendency was less than 14 months for invention patent applications. For trademark applications, average disposal pendency dropped to 6.2 months—a record low since 2009. Pending applications for both invention patent and trademark applications were maintained at about 50,000 cases (Figure 10, Figure 11) to help businesses quickly obtain IP rights and begin developing portfolios. - 104
TIPO’s Q4 2021 IPR Statistics Report
In Q4 2021, TIPO received a total of 19,210 patent applications (including invention, utility model, and design patents), marking a less than 1% decrease from the same period last year, whereas trademark applications (24,839 cases) grew by 1%. As for invention patent applications, ITRI (252 cases) came out on top among resident applicants for the first time, and Applied Materials (234 cases) led non-resident applicants. Most trademark applications were filed under the agriculture industry. Uni-President (178 cases) and Cognosphere (56 cases) ranked at the top among resident and non-resident applicants, respectively.Patent ApplicationsAmong the three types of patent applications, there were 12,992 invention patent applications filed this year, a growth of 2% compared to the same period last year. This was mainly due to an increase in non-resident applications. On the other hand, the number of utility model and design patent applications dropped. All three types of patent applications filed by non-resident applicants saw growth anywhere from 6% to 20% (Table 1).The number of applications from domestic enterprises (3,528 cases) fell mainly because those from large enterprises (2,631 cases) decreased. On the other hand, the number of applications filed by small and medium enterprises (897 cases) rose by 1%.As for resident applications, ITRI topped with 252 invention patent applications while Acer with 23 design patent applications. Most of the top 10 enterprises of invention patent applications saw growth even though the total number of invention patent applications filed by all enterprises fell. Of these, Realtek (137 cases), Nanya (83 cases) and Nuvoton (56 cases) reached a new high in ten years (Figure 2). Invention patent applications filed by research institutes (454 cases) saw an increase of 17%, with ITRI (252 cases) outnumbering the others.The number of non-resident applications (9,466 cases) grew by 10%, mainly due to a 10% increase in invention patents (Table 1). Among non-resident applicants, Japan took the lead with 3,117 invention patent applications. The number of invention patent applications of the top 5 filing countries (regions) saw an increase anywhere from 6% to 23% (Figure 1).The number of design patent applications filed by non-resident applications (1,094 cases) were up by 6% (Table 1). Of these, the US came on top with 272 applications, outnumbering Japan in Q4 2021 (Figure 1).As for the top 10 non-resident applicants, Applied Materials topped the list of invention patent by filing 234 applications; Harry Winston occupied the leading place in design patents with 53 applications. Both the two applicants saw significant growth - the former at 64% and the latter, 382% (Figure 2, Figure 3).Trademark ApplicationsCompared to the same period (Q4) last year, trademark applications (24,839 cases) received by TIPO showed a 1% increase; the number of classes covered (31,809 classes) also showed a 1% increase. The number of resident applications were up by 2%, while that of non-residents down by 3% (Table 1).In terms of application classes, resident applicants filed the most applications (3,937 cases) in Class 35 (advertising, business management, retail, wholesale services, etc.), marking a 12% increase (Figure 4). Uni-President filed 178 applications, ranking first among the top 10 resident applicants (Table 2).As to non-resident applicants, mainland China filed the most applications (1,230 cases) compared to other countries (regions) (Figure 1). In terms of application classes, non-resident applicants filed the most applications (1,163 cases) in Class 9 (computer and technology products, etc.)(Figure 5). Cognosphere, which was not an applicant in Q4 2020, filed 56 applications, outnumbering all other non-resident applicants (Table 3).As for industry categories, most trademark applications received by TIPO were classified under “Agriculture” (6,947 cases), and resident applications (5,877) represented a larger share. Non-resident applications were mostly filed under “research and technology” (2,039 cases) (Figure 6). “Business and financial services” stood at the second spot for resident applications, marking growth for two consecutive years. - 105
Seminar on IP Landscape in New Southbound countries
To actively assist Taiwanese companies in building IP portfolios in New Southbound countries, on August 27 (Tuesday) and 28 (Wednesday), 2019, TIPO will hold a seminar on IP Landscape practices in New Southbound countries with Taiwan Patent Attorneys Association (TWPAA) at Tsai Lecture Hall, College of Law, National Taiwan University in Taipei.The seminar has the intellectual property office officials and patent attorneys of Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India as guest lecturers. They will speak about the invention patent and utility model patent systems (such as application requirements, the time limit for OA response, and patent term), patent examination practices, and the things to note when filing applications and protecting patents for Taiwanese companies in New Southbound countries. IPR can protect a company’s business achievements while generating more value for the company. When entering the local market of a New Southbound country, if using the country’s IPR system properly and setting appropriate IP portfolio strategies, the company shall be able to leverage its advantages more. TIPO expects the seminar to help attendants learn more about the IPR practices in New Southbound countries.For more information, please keep a close eye on TIPO’s website and our Facebook fan page.