Taiwan’s parliament has passed a bill that establishes new protections for the intellectual property of pharmaceutical companies. The new “patent linkage” system, modeled on the U.S. “Orange Book” approach, is aimed at preventing licenses from being issued for drugs that infringe on an original medication’s patent. Under the system, a drug company suspecting infringement can file a lawsuit that will trigger a 12-month suspension of the license for the competing drug. The legislation has been welcomed by international pharmaceutical companies, who face competition from local, generic drug makers in Taiwan.
