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Taiwan IP Court's Judgment on Chinese Patent Ownership Dispute
Patent systems around the world tend to adopt the principle of territorialism. The accompanying rights and effectiveness of patents issued by the patent authorities of a certain country or region generally depend on the statute of the issuing country or region. Here lies the question: If the parties dispute a patent right obtained in Country A (or Region A), can the parties settle the dispute in Country B (or Region B), and which laws should be recognized as the governing laws?
The Intellectual Property Court delivered a judgment for an ownership dispute of a Chinese patent on November 14, 2013 (Judgment No. 2013-Min-Zhuan-Shang-20). It held that, pursuant to the "Jurisdiction based on the Defendant's Residence" principle of the Taiwan Code of Civil Procedure, as long as the defendant resides in Taiwan, the Taiwanese courts shall have jurisdiction over the case. As for the substantive judgment over the disputed patent right, the law of the country that granted such right shall prevail. That is, the Chinese Patent Law shall serve as the governing law in this litigation. The Intellectual Property Court, after investigating the relevant facts and both parties' arguments, ruled that the plaintiff's request for the defendant to transfer its Chinese patent over to the plaintiff was groundless, and thereby dismissed the plaintiff's complaint.
This judgment only dealt with the jurisdiction and governing law issues, and the verdict was unfavorable to the plaintiff. Should a plaintiff win in another similar case, it would mean that the Taiwanese court has decided that the defendant should transfer his Chinese patent to the plaintiff. How such judgment is to be enforced in China and how the Chinese patent authority handles the plaintiff's petition will need to be observed.