Misuse of Copyright Infringing Set-top Boxes Punishable by up to 2-Year Imprisonment
The Tokyo Olympics had drawn a significant number of Taiwanese viewers, and the discussion on set-top box audiovisual content infringement has thus arisen. The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs emphasizes that, in accordance with the Copyright Act, manufacturing, importing, or selling set-top boxes that stream infringing audiovisual content is a violation of the law and is punishable by up to two years in prison and/or a fine of $500,000 NTD. TIPO once again appealed to the public to avoid using set-top boxes from unknown sources and support legal copyrighted content in order to ensure quality audiovisual content.
TIPO Releases IPR Statistics for the First Half of 2021
In the first half of 2021, TIPO received a total of 35,264 patent applications (including invention, utility model, and design patents) as well as 46,379 trademark applications; this represents a 4% and 7% increase respectively compared with the same period last year. Invention patent applications filed by resident applicants saw a rapid increase mainly due to a 21% growth in the number of large enterprise applications. TSMC took the lead among resident applicants (1,263 cases), and Qualcomm among non-resident applicants (454 cases). Trademark applications, combined with resident and non-resident applicants, hit a record high again by going up 7%. In general, patent and trademark applications saw steady growth in the first half of 2021.
Changes Made to the Name of Designated Goods and Services for Trademark Registration
In response to the periodic revision of the 11th edition (Version 2021) of the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, 24 items have been added and 8 items deleted from the names of goods/services designated for trademark application and registration. Among the categories/subcategories, 4 items have been added, 4 remarks made, and 2 names altered.
SME Trade Secrets Protection Mechanism Checklist Available!
To assist SMEs review and improve their trade secret protection mechanism, TIPO compiled an SME Trade Secrets Protection Mechanism Checklist, made available under the “Trade Secrets” subsection on the TIPO website on June 11th, 2021.
Revised Examination Guidelines for Computer Software-Related Inventions, Effective July 1st, 2021
Technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) and big data have been booming in recent years, and the number of patent applications for computer software-related inventions has increased accordingly. The Examination Guidelines for Computer Software-Related Inventions has thus been updated by TIPO and came into effect on July 1st, serving as a guide for examiners to handle related cases and reference for applicants.
