The Taiwan IP Court has been in operation for almost seven years since its establishment in July 2008. At its inception, it was expected that this special court would provide a professional and efficient system of adjudicating IP-related disputes in Taiwan.
The release of the five-year statistical data for cases adjudicated by the IP Court from July 2008 to June 2013 has sparked concerns. The most discussed issue is the extremely low success rate (less than 15%) for patent owners in infringement litigations, and the proportionally much higher success rate (about 60%) for validity defense challenges. The grant rate for motions to preserve evidence is also very low (about 15%).
Patent practitioners are worried that the development of intellectual property rights protection would be hampered, while patent applicants and owners are concerned that patents granted by the IP Office are hardly enforceable against infringers.
Faced with concerns from various sectors, including the drop in the number of patent applications filed in Taiwan since 2013, the IP Court has promised to monitor and strengthen the adjudication process. The success rate for patent owners for the period from January to November 2014 as published by the IP Court has now increased to about 25%. One may wonder whether the pendulum is swinging toward pro-patent.
It is hoped that the IP Court would improve the quality of adjudication without compromising the rights of the public.
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The above contents are intended as general discussion of the subject matter only and shall not be deemed as legal advice to any particular case or issue.