[A2k] Taiwan court nullifies CL on Philips CD-Rs

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Court nullifies government compulsory licensing
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/03/14/147065/Court-nullifies.htm

Friday, March 14, 2008
CAN

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled yesterday
to nullify a government decision on granting a compulsory license to a
local manufacturer for five patents related to recordable compact
discs (CD-Rs) owned by Dutch electronics giant Philips, delivering a
second blow to Taiwanese intellectual property rights (IPR)
authorities in as many months.

The legal battle on high tech IPR can be traced back to 2004, when
Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Ministry of
Economic Affairs (MOEA) , despite strong objections from Philips,
granted compulsory licenses to Gigastorage, a relatively small
manufacturer, for five CD-R patents. The decision was confirmed by the
MOEA's Committee of Appeal in 2006.

But a European Commission report issued Jan. 30 this year concluded
that the Patent Law of Taiwan and related decisions made under it are
inconsistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on intellectual
property. The EU also demanded that Taiwan take concrete steps to
amend its Patent Law and reverse the compulsory license decision
within two months, threatening to start WTO trade dispute proceedings
if the Taiwanese authorities failed to comply.

Philips (Taiwan) welcomed the latest decision, saying that "the ruling
affirmed that the decisions by the IPO and the Committee of Appeal are
illegal and have no legal effect."

After the EU's report, the court verdict proves again that Philips is
right on the issue, added James Lee, General Manager of Philips'
Intellectual Property and Standards division.

The European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taipei, however,
declined to comment on the decision, citing the sensitivity of the
issue.

"Of course it is an important verdict, but we are now in extremely
sensitive negotiations with Taiwan, " explained an EETO official on
condition of anonymity.

Wang may-hwa, director-general of the IPO, said her office will decide
whether to appeal the case to the Supreme Administrative Court after
reviewing the reasons stipulated in the verdict.

One expert said the court's decision might be against the Taiwanese
government, but it also provides an exit for Taiwan, since it seems to
satisfy the second demand of the EU -- the removal of the "recedential
effects" of the measure, including the revocation of the compulsory
licenses in their entirety.

A compulsory license is a decision by a government that permits
another producer to use a patent without the consent of the patent
holder.

Since Philips and Gigastorage have already settled the case with an
unknown sum of compensation from Gigastorage, the case involves no
commercial interests, but the EU decided to pursue it to the end for
fear that if not totally resolved, it is still possible that Taiwan
could use compulsory licensing again in the future.


Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney at Knowledge Ecology International
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.202.332.2670, x18
Email: judit.rius@keionline.org