Gov't seeks to boost tech industry with cut to IPR red tape

The revisions to the Technology Basic Law passed the third reading to replace rigid stipulations that have been blamed for hampering Taiwan's technological research efforts.

With the revised law, government-run academic and research bodies will be allowed to bypass the statutes governing national property when licensing the IPRs they have developed.

Such bodies can also ignore the government procurement regulations when making purchases for research projects that are sponsored by private funding.

The revised law also relaxes the restrictions on researchers from government-run units concerning their investment and employment in businesses related to their research.

Currently such researchers — including professors of national universities — can own no more than 10 percent of the businesses and they cannot serve on their boards of directors and supervisors. These restrictions will be lifted.

Chen Cheng-hong, deputy minister of the National Science Council, explaining the significance of the changes, said the government owns all new technologies developed by researchers under its administration.

These government-owned technologies are currently put within the framework governing all of the country's assets, whose selling, licensing and using is subject to the National Property Law, Chen said.

According to the deputy minister, any licensing has to go through a mass of red tape as stipulated by the National Property Law, which usually takes a year.

By the time the red tape is done, the technology will have already lost its appeal and competitiveness in the market.

The revised law will allow national universities and government bodies to decide the use of the technologies they have developed.

Chen said the new law will enable more flexible and timely application of new technologies.

Kuomintang Legislator Chao Li-yun, who championed the revisions, said there has been a lot of technological research in Taiwan, but application of new technologies has been rare because of the conservative and outdated National Property Law.

The move to seek to revise the law was prompted by an investigation of a renowned scientist, Chen Yuang-tsong — head of the Academia Sinica's biomedical research institute — on suspicion of illegal technological transfer more than a year ago.

Wong Chi-huey, president of the Academia Sinica, said Chen fell victim to the ambiguity in the existing law. He said he hopes the changes to the law can improve the nation's research environment.

The revised articles in the Technology Basic Law are nicknamed the “Chen Yuan-tsong Articles.”

The Legislature have made the changes, but it will still need related government bodies to work out the enforcement regulations.

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