Another delegation composed of experts from TIPO and BOFT was dispatched to Geneva from September 15 to 22 to participate in the legislative review held by the TRIPS Council of the World Trade Organization. By responding to questions proposed by members of the WTO, the delegation successfully presented a comprehensive overview on the IPR regime in both legislative and enforcement fronts of the nation.

The nation's IPR legislative regime was reviewed by the WTO/TRIPS Council from September 17 to 19. This review, which stands as an important milestone in the account of multilateral IPR cooperation, was successfully completed on November 28.

TIPO initiated technical automation project with assistance from the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) under the framework of APEC. A delegation headed by Deputy Director General Tsai visited KIPO from October 27 to November 1; the two sides signed the "Draft Proposal on Technical Cooperation for Administration Automation between TIPO and KIPO."

KIPO followed the abovementioned project by sending another expert group of fifteen to visit TIPO from December 15 to 20 so as to facilitate experience sharing and technical exchange.

Chinese Taipei was elected as the convener and the chairman of the APEC Intellectual Property Rights Experts Group (IPEG) during the 14th APEC/IPEG meeting held in Hong Kong in March 2002.

Chinese Taipei successfully hosted the 13th APEC/IPEG meeting in July 2001 as other Member Economies complemented and acknowledged the constant effort that the nation put into.

The "Fifth Taiwan-France Industrial Property Rights Meeting" was held at TIPO on January 18, 2002. Mr. Hangard, General Director of the Institut National de la Properiete Industrielle of France, attended the ceremony and signed the proposed agreement.

The "Memorandum of Understanding between Ministries of Economic Affairs of Taipei and of San Diego" was signed at Chile on March 21. The MOU was brought back to Taipei by the Latin American trade delegation of the Ministry and signed by Vice Minister Chen on April 25.

The "Agreement on the Development and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights between the Republic of China and the Republic of Costa Rica" was signed on October 11; another parallel agreement was signed between the R.O.C. and the Republic of Guatemala on December 24. These agreements serve not only as gateways to mutual recognition on priority rights for patent and trademark applications, but also as enhancements to reciprocal cooperation on information sharing and experts exchange.

A delegation was sent from July 27 to August 4 to Washington D.C., U.S. to participate in the TIFA Working-level Meeting where in depth discussions on amendment to Copyright Law were developed. The two sides also exchanged views on relevant matters.

TIPO continues providing the European Patent Office (EPO) and Derwent, an English firm, with translated information on published patent, which would be adopted into the INPADOC database and the World Patent Index (WPI) database.

Mr. Roberto Vacca, an EPO officer who is in charge of affairs in Taiwan and Mainland China region, visited TIPO on October 24 to discuss issues relating to information exchanging, examiner training and prospective visit to Taiwan for other EPO experts.
Mr. Christian Platzer, a senior patent examiner of EPO, and Dr.

Wolfgang Konig were invited as speakers of seminars organized by TIPO from November 25 to 29 on matters related to patent commercialization and examination practice.

TIPO continues providing information governing administrative measures and enforcement results in response to concerns addressed by international trade and economy organizations, such as the WTO and the APEC, as well as to those proposed by other nations through bilateral negotiations.

To help the industries stay current with the latest international IPR protection trend, TIPO invited a group of eight attorneys and experts from the American Intellectual Property Laws Association (AIPLA) to attend an IPR seminar, which was held on April 9 at the National Taiwan University, that focused on: harmonizing IPR cooperation among private organizations; disseminating international trends on IPR protection; and providing case study on IPR infringements.

TIPO was invited by Mr. Nils Montan, president of the International Trademark Association (INTA), to participate in the 124th INTA Annual Meeting held in Washington D.C., U.S. from May 17 to 24 to broadcast the constant effort that Taiwan has devoted into IPR protection, and to introduce and advertise for investment opportunities while enhancing multifaceted cooperation with IPR organizations from other nations.

The 4th TIFA Working-level Meetings were held in July and October to help the U.S. reach a better comprehension on the efforts that the government installed in IPR protection.

To facilitate future cooperation with France Intellectual Property Office as well as to generate more training opportunities for our IPR enforcement officers, experts and officers from TIPO, NPA, MOJ, Judicial Yuan, Customs and ACC formed a delegation and participated the "Anti-counterfeiting Practice Workshop" held from December 9 to 13 in France.

To further stimulate mutual cooperation and to enhance professional training, five examiners were sent to the European Patent Office (EPO) to attend the biotechnology patent examination practice program held from June 29 to July 28.

One patent assistant examiner was sent to Hague Branch Office of EPO in Holland to participate the "EPO Workshop for Industry 2002" from August 31 to September 8.

Mr. Chistophe de Vroey, an European Commission Trade Officer, came in December to provide IPR related information exchange through interactive seminars which focused on IPR protection and enforcement related issues.