PATENT PRIORITY CLAIM PRACTICE

07/01/2003

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On 10 June 2003, the Ministry of Economic Affairs made an announcement with respect to patent priority claim practice after Taiwan's ac-cession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as follows:

When filing a new design patent application in Taiwan with a priority claim by a national from a WTO member, such priority claim will be accepted if the corresponding basic appli-cation is an international application filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs or one filed with the Benelux Designs Office with any WTO member being designated, and that such corresponding basic application is deemed as a legally filed application pursuant to the na-tional laws of such designated country. However, the priority date thus claimed may not be earlier than 1 January 2002.

For an ROC (Taiwan) invention, new utility model or new design patent application filed with priority claim, the priority claim will not be affected if the applicant/patentee is later changed to another party due to the ownership transfer of such application.

NPA STATISTICS FOR IPR INFRINGEMENT CASES IN 2002

Unit：Case/Person; NTD = $1000

Year	Total			Trademark			Patent			Copyright
	No. of Cases	No. of Suspects	Est. Market Value	No. of Cases	No. of Suspects	Est. Market Value	No. of Cases	No. of Suspects	Est. Market Value	No. of Cases	No. of Suspects	Est. Market Value
2000(1-12)	4,304		8,358,704.0	846		2,560,853.0	178		108,465.0	3280		5,689,386.0
2001(1-12)	5,270	6,114	8,202,571.4	623	837	3,707,072.5	136	186	300,024.6	4,511	5,091	4,195,474.2
2002(1-12)	5,118	6,269	10,010,370.6	956	1,266	1,158,604.6	130	179	806,950.1	4,032	4,824	8,044,815.9
Increase Rate	2.88%	2.54%	22.04%	53.45%	51.25%	-68.75%	-4.41%	-3.76%	168.96%	-10.62%	-5.24%	91.75%

IPR CASES INVESTIGATED AND CONCLUDED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTORS' OFFICES OF DISTRICT COURTS（JAN. TO DEC. 2002）

Table 1

Year	New Cases	Closed Cases
2001(1-12)	6,151		Crime			Defendant Identity
		Subtotal	Copyright	Trademark	Patent	Manufacturer	Agent	Retailer	Other
		6,133	4,457	1,180	496	845	282	2,548	2,458
2002(1-12)	5,627	5,704	3,847	1,358	499	973	348	2,286	2,097
Increase Rate	-8.51%	-6.99%	-13.68%	15.08%	0.60%	15.14%	23.40%	-10.28%	-14.68%

Table 2

Year	New Cases	Closed Cases
2001(1-12)	6,151	Status
		Subtotal	Indicted	Convicted	Delayed	Withdrawal	Private Complaints Filed	Other
		6,133	2,064	970		1,706	34	1,359
2002(1-12)	5,627	5,704	1,540	1,134	28	1,791	10	1,201
Increase Rate	-8.51%	-6.99%	-25.38%	16.90%		4.98%	-70.58%	-11.62%

Source：Prosecutors' Office of the Taiwan High Court（Status of Delayed cases added in March 2002）

ADJUDICATION OF CASES PROSECUTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTORS' OFFICES OF DISTRICT COURTS（JAN. TO DEC. 2002）

Year	Total	Imprisonment						Detention	Fines	Not Guilty	Other	Jail Term or Detention and Fines
		Sub-total	Less than 6 months	6 to 12 months	1 to 2 year(s)	2 to 3 years	3 to 5 years
2000(1-12)	2,592	1,260	917	89	248	6		126	61	442	703
2001(1-12)	3,238	1,916	1,385	135	377	19		189	66	377	690	146
2002(1-12)	2,636	1,498	1,065	95	317	20	1	160	52	352	574	68
Increase Rate	-18.59%	-21.81%	-23.10%	-29.62%	-15.91%	5.26%	100%	-15.34 %	-21.21 %	-6.63%	-16.81%	-53.42%

Source：Prosecutors' Office of the Taiwan High Court

IPR INFRINGEMENT AGAINST U.S. NATIONALS HANDLED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTORS' OFFICES OF DISTRICT COURTS AND FINALLY ADJUDICATED （JAN. TO DEC. 2002）

Unit：Persons

Category of Crime	Year	Affirmed Cases & Defendants												Fines and Detention
		Total	Imprisonment							Detention	Fines	Not Guilty	Other
			Subtotal	6 Months and un-der	More than 6 Months but less than 1 year	More than 1 year but less than 2 years	More than 2 years but less than 3 years	More than 3 years but less than 5 years	5 years and over
Cases In-volving Rights of U.S. Na-tionals	2001	191	120	74	22	22	2	0	0	20	7	20	24	8
	2002	291	182	117	24	38	3	0	0	11	8	27	63	4
	Change	+100	+62	+43	+2	+16	+1	0	0	-9	+1	+7	+39	-4
	%	+52.35	+51.66	+58.10	+9.09	+72.72	+50.00	0	0	-55.00	+14.28	+35.00	+62.50	+50.00