In a bid to meet WTO requirements, the Cabinet passed a bill yesterday that will extend the intellectual property rights protection period for computer programs to 50 years after the death of the program's designer.
During a Cabinet meeting attended by related government agencies, officials agreed to revise regulations to extend the protection period for both patent rights and copyrights of computer software products.
The same protection period applies to literature.
Under the new rules, the protection period for patent rights will be extended to 20 years from the current 15 years. The copyrights of computer software products will be extended to 50 years after the demise of the software designer.
Officials with the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the changes in both patent and copyright laws not only to show that Taiwan is ready to join the WTO, but also that the country is responding to US concerns for trade barriers like intellectual property rights (IPRs).
During the last trade talks between the two countries the US demanded that Taiwan impose stricter laws better to protect IPRs including incorporating criminal statutes into an anti-CD piracy law, economic ministry officials said.
The US has also asked Taiwan to adopt a legal requirement to license the import and use of optical media manufacturing machinery. At the end of April the USTR Office is scheduled to publish its annual list of countries that require close monitoring and could be subject to trade sanctions under the Special 301 provisions of the 1989 US Omnibus Trade Act if they fail to address US concerns.
Economics ministry officials said that under the new laws, CD manufacturers will need to stamp the suppliers' identification codes on the products to make it easier to crackdown on counterfeiting. The proposed law revisions will be sent to the legislature for final approval.
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