Business leader calls for better IPR protection

Business leader calls for better IPR protection

    Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Both Taiwan and China should revise their laws to provide better protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and stop businesses from poaching staff from their competitors, Terry Gou, founder of the Hon Hai Group, said Tuesday.
    He made the remarks to show his agreement with complaints made by Morris Chang, founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. the previous day that local high-tech companies should pick their ways carefully through the "minefields" littered with other companies' patent rights that are unknown to them.
    Gou said Taiwanese law fails to provide comprehensive IPR and patent protection and is too lenient toward offenders. It is also sketchy when it comes to talent-poaching and does not provide appropriate penalties for those who employ such measures.
    In this regard, China's laws are no better, and Taiwan businessmen operating there often see their IPR infringed upon by their Chinese competitors, said Gou, who added that the government should address the problem through negotiations with China.
    Citing a lawsuit between Hon Hai's Chinese subsidiary, Foxconn Precision, and BYD Group over alleged trade secrecy theft, Gou said it has entered its seventh year, invoking legal costs of more than US$2 million, in addition to trade losses of more than US$600 million on the part of Foxconn.
    If there was an efficient and comprehensive dispute-solving mechanism in China, Taiwanese businessmen there would be spared a lot of legal trouble, said Gou.

(Focus Taiwan News Channel)