Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

H.E. Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren
Chinese Taipei
12 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION:
278.   Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) account for almost 98% of our businesses. They are the backbone of our economy and have played a critical role in fostering our economic development. However, MSMEs usually struggle to draw up good IPR strategies or comprehensive trademark portfolios due to lack of resources and support from IPR professionals. We will briefly introduce the relevant measures we take and a few of our experiences. 279.   Our trademark authority TIPO not only devotes to improving IP regulations and the quality and efficiency of trademark examination, but also actively assists MSMEs in learning more about trademark issues. For instance, in 2015, TIPO set up a platform which systematically leads MSMEs to explore the fundamentals of IP, establish their own brands, register trademarks, and even deal with litigation if necessary. The platform aims at reducing the MSMEs' costs of acquiring information. Also, at its field offices, TIPO holds free courses and provides consultation services on trademark application and other popular topics to MSMEs. Each year, customized information events are also held for particular audiences. 280.   Through a long-term project called "Branding Taiwan", our government offers the resources MSMEs need for brand building or transformation. Other than assisting MSMEs in analysing their weaknesses in IP protection and rights management, we also help them review their patenting momentum, evaluate the potential obstacles on their paths, and design their patent portfolios strategies, in the hope of helping them develop high-value and highly differentiated products, whilst strengthening their global competitiveness. 281.   In 2019, through the project, the government continued to provide support to the MSMEs which could not hire IP professionals on their own due to limited funding and business scale and helped them reinforce their understanding of IPR and expand their global trademark portfolios. In 2019, a total of 56 local businesses received reviews, assistance, and consulting services and a total of 222 branding managers were trained. It was expected that the companies receiving such assistance would garner NT$1.64 billion investment, more than NT$4.19 billion revenues around the world, and 6,361 new dealers, agents or channels. The program has effectively increased MSMEs' awareness of IPR protection and companies are beginning to actively monitor counterfeiting and proactively adopt measures to protect their IP rights. In addition, since MSMEs have their trademarks registered overseas, more overseas distributors are willing to sell their products, which leads to MSMEs expanding businesses in the global market. 282.   IP and innovation are the integral driving forces of economic growth. However, how the government may make MSMEs competitive through trademarks remains an important issue. We encourage Members to share their measures and experiences.
IP/C/M/94, IP/C/M/94/Add.1