A cross-strait agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) cleared the second reading on the legislative floor on Tuesday night.
Wang Mei-hua (王美花), director-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office, said the government would soon embark on negotiations with the Chinese side on establishing a mechanism of collaboration, coordination, disposition and consultation to fight illegal cross-border activities and ensure IPR protection.
Under the IPR agreement, Taiwan and China will mutually recognize priority rights for patents, trademarks and plant variety rights and will mutually accept applications for plant variety rights.
This deal would facilitate meetings between copyright authority personnel, as well as visits and study tours, exchanges of experience and technology, and the promotion of the mutual use of patent search and examination results, and the examination and testing of variety rights.
Wang said the deal would help copyright authorities combat piracy and counterfeiting, clamp down on illegal downloads of music or movies, prevent well-known trademarks or well-known place-of-origin squatting, and copyright infringement of Taiwanese fruits.
Copyright authentication services, which are currently done via Hong Kong, would be directly provided by associations in Taiwan after the agreement comes into force, Wang said.
The IPR agreement will take effect the day after the two sides receive notice from each other that the process has been completed.
The Democratic Progressive Party caucus has proposed three resolutions be attached to the IPR agreement, requiring the government to refer a draft bill — aimed at preventing the outflow of agricultural technology and plant varieties — to the legislature in the next legislative session for deliberation.
The resolutions also call for the Chinese authorities to look into matters of copyright infringement of Taiwanese products, to address the problem and for agencies in Taiwan to report to the legislature on the subject on a regular basis.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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