Amendment to Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Court Organization Act approved by the Legislative Yuan

　The Legislative Yuan of Taiwan approved the amendment to the Intellectual Property Case Adjudication Act on January 12, 2023 to include all first-instance criminal cases involving trade secrets infringement into the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court’s (hereinafter the “IPC Court”) jurisdiction and also to stipulate that the offense of violating confidentiality preservation order should be chargeable without a complaint.  

　The amendment to partial provisions of the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court Organization Act passed its third reading at the Legislative Yuan on April 11, 2023 to be in tandem with the amended Intellectual Property Case Adjudication Act.  The amendment incorporates revisions particularly focusing on the protection over the trade secrets involved in litigation to answer to the expectations for the stable environment facilitating the operation of Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing industry.  Such revisions include the IPC Court’s exclusive jurisdiction over the first-instance criminal cases (also incidental civil actions) involving trade secrets infringement.  

　Besides, according to the 2^nd paragraph of Article 18 of the National Security Act promulgated by presidential order on June 8, 2022, the IPC Court should also have jurisdiction over the first-instance criminal cases with respect to infringement of the trade secrets involving national core technologies, which brings trade secrets protection up to the level of national security protection.  

　The approved amended provisions partly focus on the jurisdiction of the IPC Court, which extends to the first-instance criminal cases (including the incidental actions) involving the offenses defined by Article 13-1 of the Trade Secrets Act, the second-instance criminal cases involving Trade Secrets Act violation.  This amendment aims to fulfill professional and expedited trial and also to assure the competitive advantages of Taiwan’s industries on global market.  (Released 2023.04.11) 
/CCS