| Copyright |
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| I. The Copyright Registration in Taiwan |
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Please be advised that the copyright registration system was abolished in a Copyright Act amendment promulgated on January 21, 1998, and the government agency in charge of copyright matters has ceased accepting copyright registrations since January 23, 1998 in Taiwan.
In principle, original works of authorship has been protected by copyrights as soon as it is completed. Because Taiwan became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 2002, under the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), member countries are obligated to protect the works of the nationals of other members. Therefore, the client’s new work is entitled to the protection of copyrights in Taiwan due to the reciprocal principle.
Since copyrights are private rights, copyright owners have to bear the burden of proof of the existence of their rights when a dispute or lawsuit occurs. If the clients worry that it’s difficult to prove ownership of copyrights, there are several ways for the clients to secure additional copyright protection as follows. |
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(1) |
The clients have copyrights recorded in a private organization in Taiwan. Since our firm was registered as a copyright attorney in “Taiwan Development & Research Academia of Economic & Technology”. We will be pleased to assist the clients in the copyrights recordation in Taiwan. |
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(2) |
The clients sign a Statutory Declaration (SD) testified by a lawyer or a Notary Public in your country. By this way, should evidence be needed in Court, the SD can be produced as prima facie evidence (evidence at first sight, until rebutted by the other party) to prove that copyright subsists with clients. |
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(3) |
The clients have the copyrights recorded in the countries where there are official copyright registration systems. |
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(4) |
We issue a Legal Attest Letter in the name of our firm indicating the information of the client's copyrights. The Legal Attest Letter will go through the Post Office and then come back to our firm. The Post Office will keep one copy thereof. When there are disputes on the clients’ copyrights, the Court can check the copies deposited in the Post Office. |
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| The foregoing ways are auxiliary methods only and what they can prove are: |
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(1) |
the date when the SD and the work are testified by a lawyer or a Notary Public; |
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(2) |
the work has existed at the moment when any of the foregoing ways is conducted; and |
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(3) |
The clients declare that they are the true copyright holder of the work, so they are presumed to be the true copyright holder of the work as declared. |
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| Therefore, the most important matter is still that the copyright owners preserve and keep material from the creative process or release of a work or other material relating to their rights to a work, to serve as evidence of their rights. |
