Joseph P. Whitlock , Senior Director for IP and Innovation at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and Mike Mangelson , Intellectual Property Attaché, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Consulate General Shanghai, accompanied by AIT Economic Officer Anna Wang and Specialist Lisa Yang, visited the Intellectual Property Branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office (this Office) at 10:30am July 28, 2017 and for a meeting. The Head Prosecutor Ching-tang Shih, Prosecutor Hsueh-mei Lo, Shuo-chun Chu , Ping-lin Tien and Chi-wei Sun of this Office, as well as the Prosecutor Shih-kuo Liu, the Department of Prosecutorial Affairs ( MOJ) all attended this meeting.

Mr. Whitlock came to Taiwan to attend the TIFA review meeting. He has long specialized in IP, and is especially concerned about online copyright infringement in Taiwan. He said, “I understand that there is a challenge in handling online legal issues. Can any enforcement action be taken in Taiwan to stop the infringement activities when the unauthorized content comes to Taiwan?”

“When the unauthorized content is traced back to a website not in Taiwan, there is a jurisdictional problem; the authorities are not able to enforce the laws-especially when the website is in China. However, if we see money flowing to the offshore website or any accomplice helping the website in Taiwan, Taiwan’s law enforcement agency will do their best to investigate and find out if prosecution is needed. ” prosecutors of this Office responded.

“The signing of the MOU on combating intellectual property infringement between Taiwan and the U.S. will enable the two sides to further strengthen cooperation and information exchanges on enforcement and training workshops” Mr. Mangelson said.