The chairwoman of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) indicated that after signing the Cross-Strait Agreement on Intellectual Property Right Protection and Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as “said agreement”) enterprises of Taiwan and China have benefited from said agreement in various aspects. She pointed out (as cited below) some preliminary advantages of this agreement:

For example, by using the so-called “trademark troll”, various Taiwan enterprises have discovered that their company names or product names had already been registered by adverse third parties when they are trying to file trademark applications. Furthermore, many products bear false indication of geographical origin in order to mislead the customers. Fortunately, by adopting the mechanism for collaboration and coordination of said agreement, enterprises may ask for the assistance of TIPO in such a dispute. TIPO may provide legal aid or contact the China authorities, SIPO, for further assistance. A recent achievement is the certification marks “CAS” (Certified Agricultural Standards) and “CAS Organic”, which represent that the certification for the Taiwan premium or organic domestic agricultural produce and their processed products have been granted registration by China. This certification will enhance the distinction of Taiwan agricultural products over those from China and protect the rights of Taiwan agricultural producers.

Enterprises also benefit from the priority rights protections that are stipulated in said agreement. By recognizing the priority right, companies may prevent malicious patent applicants taking advantage of the gap in time in applying for patents in both countries. The China authority received 712 patent applications with priority claims from Taiwan, while TIPO received 434 patent applications with priority claims from China. Most of them are inventions regarding high-tech industries such as semiconductors, communications and electronics.