The EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said that Taiwan had abuse the system of compulsory licensing by allowing local producers to make recordable compact discs, or CDR’s. According to a report of the European Commission CDR is a technology developed by the Dutch company Philips Electronics. The Taiwanese government reacted with regret that the EU came to the conclusion as expressed in the report.
Taiwan produces more then 80% of the CDR’s sol throughout the world. Philips has granted licenses to eight companies in Taiwan to make the discs. , another company Gigastorage, that didn’t get a license applied to the Taiwanese authorities for a compulsory license, which was granted.
When a government issues a compulsory license, a company can make a product without negotiating with the patent owner for permission to use the technology, but under World Trade Organisation rules, these cannot be exported. Philips filed a complaint with EU trade regulators last year saying that Taiwanese authorities had allowed local producers to make CDR’s for export.
In a press release the Taiwanese government mentioned that Philips and Gigastorage settled their dispute last October, while the judicial review on the validity of the original measure are still pending in the Taiwanese Administrative High Court.
Taiwan explained that their current patent law is the same one submitted to all WTO Members for careful review before WTO accession in 2002. At the time, none of them raised any question. But Commissioner Mandelson stated that the patent laws in Taiwan are ‘inconsistent with WTO rules on intellectual property’ and gave it two months to reverse the compulsory license decisions. ‘I cannot rule out seeking WTO dispute settlement if they do not’.
‘The Taiwan government regrets that the EU came to the conclusion as expressed in the report and will keep in touch with a view to clarify the content and reasoning stated in the report. We are looking forward to solving the difference of opinions between the two sides’, a Taiwanese spokesman let know.
