Establishment of the THPO-IPB

The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, Intellectual Property Branch (“THPO-IPB”), established on July 1, 2008, is a counterpart to the Intellectual Property Court (“IPC”). It is the second instance Office and also the only specialized prosecutor’s office to deal with one area, i.e. IP related crimes.

Note: Taiwan formulated and promulgated the "Business Disputes Procedure Act" on January 15, 2020. Meanwhile, the "Intellectual Property and Commercial Organization Act" was amended to incorporate the commercial court with the IPC. After the merger, the IPC was renamed as the "Intellectual Property and Commercial Court" (IPCC) on July 1, 2021.

Purpose
The purpose of the establishment is to protect intellectual property rights, appropriately handle intellectual property cases, and promote national technological and economic development.

Legal Authority
（1）Article 5 Paragraph 1 of the Intellectual Property Court Organization Act provides that the THPO-IPB is the counterpart to the IPC.
（2）The Executive Yuan, by letter dated March 28, 2008, approved the establishment of the THPO-IPB, in line with establishing the IPC of the Judicial Yuan on July 1st, 2008.

Unveiling and Establishment
In March 1996, the Ministry of Justice set up the "Preparatory Group" and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office set up the "Preparation Affairs Group". After more than one year of planning, the THPO-IPB was jointly unveiled by the Minister of Justice, Wang Ching-feng, the President of the Judicial Yuan, Lai Ying-zhao, and the Chief Prosecutor, Yen Da-ho, and was established on the same day as the IPC.

Changing the Name
In order to implement the doctrine of "separation of trial and prosecution subordination" and to avoid confusing the duties of judges and prosecutors, all the Prosecutors Offices in 2018 changed their names, in accordance with the resolution of the Judicial Reform Conference and cooperated with the Court Organization Law amendment. Since May 25 of that year, the THPO-IPB changed its Chinese name, with the new name of the Office unveiled by Chief Prosecutor Wang Tian-sheng.

Office Building

In order to facilitate the business contacts and the movement of personnel to and from their offices, the THPO-IPB looked for a premises near the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office when it was established. In coordination with the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Property Administration, the NCC agreed to provide the fifth floor of its Northern Region Affairs Department Building for use by the THPO-IPB. 

The old office was located on the southern edge of the Boai Special Administrative Region, next to the Chongxi Gate (Xiaonanmen, Small South Gate) of the ancient Taipei City. The inside was equipped with offices of prosecutors and clerks, an interrogation room, a meeting room and a reading room. In October 2018, due to the adjustment of space configuration, the original meeting room and interrogation room on the fifth floor were allocated to the Criminal Investigation Database Center and the Data Section of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office for their management. In September 2019, the THPO-IPB moved to the current office that is on the fifth floor of the Boyi building located just behind the Presidential Building. 

Since the IPCC is located in the Panqiao District of New Taipei City, prosecutors have to conduct public prosecutions across the administrative region to New Taipei City and thus have another office room in the IPCC for them to prepare for the trial.