Monday, March 21 2022   \  Published by Deep & Far Attorneys-at-law.

Amendments to the Copyright Act and the Trademark Act approved in Taiwan

In order to bring the laws more in line with the requirements of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Executive Yuan approved draft amendments to the Copyright Act and the Trademark Act. One amendment is that police cannot investigate digital piracy, the illegal distribution of data, and the public streaming of data unless a complaint has been made. The aim of the amendments is to clarify the definition of copyright infringement to improve public awareness with a knock on effect of reducing the judiciary’s workload. Also, this would bring the relevant laws to harmonize more closely with the rules of the CPTPP which the Office of Trade Negotiations hopes to join. The amendments define copyright infringement as acts that violate the rights of others who have paid for their goods, acts that duplicate works in their entirety, and acts that have cost rights owners more than NT 1 million dollars. Concerning trademarks, any action of forgery or falsifying trademarks would be considered an intentional or negligent offense, regardless of the individual understanding the ramifications of their actions, and offenders would face criminal prosecution and penalties.  

 

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