The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday announced it would remove Taiwan from the "Special 301" Priority Watch List and place it on the less stringent Watch List in recognition of the nation's progress in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR).
In the report, the USTR said Taiwan had made "significant progress" in cracking down on commercial piracy and had bolstered its IPR-protection legislation over the past year.
Taiwan has been on the "priority watch list" for four consecutive years.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said that Taiwan's efforts in cracking down on piracy over the past year had been commendable.
The progress Taiwan has made in improving its IPR environment includes the passage of a revision to the Copyright Law (
However, Zoellick also said that Taiwan could do a better job in protecting the data exclusivity of pharmaceutical products, since the US thinks that IPR threats still exist in the area.
Pharmaceutical data exclusivity refers to the legal protection of the results of efficacy and safety tests conducted by pharmaceutical firms before they receive government approval for the drugs.
The report also suggested that Taiwan should continue to strengthen IPR laws pertaining to agrochemical products, and crack down on unauthorized Internet music-file downloading and other commercial piracy.
Tsai Lien-sheng (
"We are working on addressing the issues that concern the US ... with amendments to related laws that are expected to be passed, I'm confident that Taiwan can be removed completely from the Watch List," Tsai said.
Concerns over protection of the data exclusivity of pharmaceutical products, for example, may be resolved soon, with the legislature last week preliminarily passing amendments to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law (
Tsai said the new amendments grant a five-year protection period to test and study results for new drugs. The amendments also provide a three-year protection period for improvements to existing products.
Hoping that the USTR will remove Taiwan from the Special 301 watch list altogether in April when it conducts its annual review, the ministry will speed up drafting of laws to regulate online IPR infringement, Tsai added.
As the government has stopped using the Export Management Systems to screen for pirated disks, Tsai said the office will transfer the budget and resources into the training of a task force to clamp down on physical and virtual piracy, hoping to lower Taiwan's piracy rate from 43 percent to under 40 percent this year.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS