The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Copyright Act (著作權法), Trademark Act (商標法) and Patent Act (專利法) as part of the nation’s push to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The amendments — drafted by the Executive Yuan to bring the country’s intellectual property protections up to international standards — were taken to the floor without being negotiated in party caucuses after the parties voiced their agreement to the bills.
The bills now go to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is expected to sign them into law.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The amendments to the Copyright Act are mainly aimed at closing a legal loophole that prevents criminal charges from being filed for acts of piracy that utilize a technology other than optical disks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs wrote in a report.
The amended law explicitly authorizes the prosecution of copyright infringements regardless of the medium or technology utilized in the replication or distribution of the material, the report said.
Non-digital copyright infringements — including those involving optical discs — are to be prosecuted only if there is an exact replication of commercially valued content and if the copyright owner suffers losses of more than NT$1 million (US$34,343), it said.
The limitations on the prosecution of copyright infringements are mandated by CPTPP rules, it said.
The Trademark Act amendments would no longer require a trademark infringement to be knowingly committed for civil or criminal liability, with negligence being a sufficient cause for civil compensation, it said.
According to the amendments, trademark infringements that occur in connection to the packaging of a product is a crime that carries a sentence of no more than one year in prison, which is commutable to a fine of less than NT$50,000, it said.
The penalties apply to unauthorized use of trademarks in advertisements on digital media or the Internet, it said.
The Patent Act amendments would allow the filing of patent claims for drugs still under patent evaluation, it said.
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