Patent Enforcement in Taiwan

Due to globalization in recent awareness in the area of IP, Taiwan has revised its IP laws recently numerous times to strengthen IP protection and making its Patent Act as per with the international standards. That's the reason most people are not well aware of the various legal implications mostly in the area of patent prosecution and infringement. Patent infringement generally refers to exploitation of a patent without the consent of the patent holder. It includes:

Manufacturing of the patented products,
Offering the patented product for sale, selling, using, or importing patented products to the patent protected territory,
Using the patented process or method and
Using, selling, or importing products or articles made through direct use of the patented process

As per the Article 56 of the Taiwan Patent Act, "the scope of an invention's patent rights shall be determined based on the claim(s) set forth in the specification of the invention. The descriptions and drawings of the invention may be used as a reference when interpreting the scope of the claims in the patent application."

Thus patentees and exclusive licensees may pursue claims for damages to anyone involve in the direct or indirect infringement of the patented article within two years from the time they become aware of the infringement, or within ten years from the time of the infringing act if they were not previously aware of it, under Article 84 of the Patent Act.

The possible civil remedies according to the Taiwan Patent Act include the following according to the Article 216 of the Civil Code:

Claims for damages suffered,
Destruction of the infringing products,
Destruction of the materials used to make the infringing products,
Publication of the court ruling in a newspaper and
Any combination of the above

Additionally Article 85 of the Patent Act describes two ways to quantify the damages caused by an infringement. The first involves subtracting a) the profit earned by the patentee through the use of his/her patent after the infringement, from b) the profit normally expected through use of the patent over the same period of time. The second method considers the profit derived from the infringer's sale of the infringing goods. The court in either case, it may increase the amount of damages allowed, if determines that the infringing act was intentional. There is no criminal remedies and prosecution for the patent violation in Taiwan.

Vinod Kumar Singh

Content Writer - IP/Patent Intelligence

Email: vinod.patent@gmail.com

Mobile: +919392387277

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