Q1:  
Does copyright require registration to be protected?
A1:
In Taiwan, copyright is protected based on “Creation Protectionism”. Under the Copyright Act, a work becomes automatically protected upon completion thereof without the requirement of registration, provided that the work complies with the elements of copyright protection specified in the Copyright Act.
However, in the absence of a registration system, if there are disputes over the work’s copyright, an author shall bear the burden of proof to prove the time of completion of the work, and that he/she is the author and the work is completed independently without plagiarism. Therefore, the prime duty of authors is to retain records or information regarding the process of creation, such as the manuscripts, sketches, drafts, minutes of meetings or records of discussions with others at the conception stage of creating the work, as well as chronologically keeping records and making backups of the works created at different stages.
To fulfill the burden of proof for potential copyright disputes in the future, authors may apply for copyright registration in the following ways:
1.  Have his/her works certified by a court’s notary public or a civilian notary public:
An author may apply for notarization of his/her works at the court’s or a civilian notary public.
2.  Deposit a copy of the work(s) at specific organizations or civilian institutions:
An author can deposit a copy of his/her works at specific organizations or civilian institutions. These organizations or institutions usually issue a certificate of copyright registration as evidence.
3.  Send a legal attest letter to oneself or a third party:
An author can keep a copy of his/her works at the post office by sending a legal attest letter to oneself or a third party (e.g. a friend or a relative).
However, these methods can only prove the authenticity of the party concerned, i.e. they can only prove that “a person has attested or deposited a work at a specific point in time”. It is the court to decide whether this person is the author of that work.
 
Q2:  
What are the elements of copyright protection?
A2:
First, the Copyright Act primarily protects works within a literary, scientific, artistic, and other intellectual domain, but does not protect technical innovations on goods with utility, which may be protected by the Patent Act.
In addition, works protected by the Copyright Act must be the intellectual outcomes of the spiritual civilization of humankind, namely only works completed by the concentration of human spiritual strength are protected.
In practice, when determining whether or not a creation is a “work”, a court usually considers the presence of its “originality”, i.e. “independent creation” and “creativity”. Therefore, to be protected by the Copyright Act, a work must meet the following requirements:
1. Independent creation:
The work is independently created by the author without plagiarism; and
2. Creativity:
The work is able to express the character or uniqueness of the author’s personal thoughts, spirit and emotions.
Creativity of a work need not be attained to an unprecedented extent. As long as there are changes capable of distinguishing the work from existing works to present its character or uniqueness, the creativity of the work is sufficient. Since creativity often involves subjective judgment and is assessed by the level of similarity, a judge is required to decide whether a work embodies creativity. Decisions vary from judge to judge and thus cannot be generalized.
 
Q3:  
What works are protected by the Copyright Act in Taiwan?
A3:
Taiwan’s Copyright Act provides: “Work” means a creation that is within a literary, scientific, artistic, or other intellectual domain. (Paragraph 1, Article 3)

Please note that there are works not protected and listed in Article 9 of the Copyright Act. Works falling in these domains are deemed not the subject matter protected by the Copyright Act:
1. The constitution, acts, regulations, or official documents.
2. Translations or compilations by central or local government agencies of works referred to in the preceding subparagraph.
3.Slogans and common symbols, terms, formulas, numerical charts, forms, notebooks, or almanacs.
4. Oral and literary works for news reports that are intended strictly to communicate facts.
5.Test questions and alternative test questions from all kinds of examinations held pursuant to acts or regulations.
The term "official documents" in the first subparagraph of the preceding paragraph includes proclamations, text of speeches, news releases, and other documents prepared by civil servants in the course of carrying out their duties.
 
Q4:
What is the term for copyright protection?
A4:
Copyright means the moral rights and economic rights subsisting in a completed work. The term of the two rights varies. In addition, the term for the economic rights differs, depending on the types of authors: natural persons or legal persons. The terms for copyright protection in Taiwan is listed below:

However, the term for copyright protection of photographic works, audio-visual works, sound recordings, and performances is fifty years after the public release of the work, regardless of whether the author is a juristic person or a natural person. The term for protection for unpublished works is fifty years after the completion of creation.
Nevertheless, moral rights will not cease along with the author’s death or extinguishment. That is to say, the existence of moral rights remains unaffected, despite the expiry of the term for protection of economic rights or the author’s death or extinguishment.
 
Q5:  
How is the enjoyment of copyright provided under Taiwan ’s Copyright Act?
A5:
First of all, it is necessary to define two concepts in Taiwan ’s Copyright Act: “Author” and “Copyright Owner”. “Author” means the “person who creates a work”, while “Copyright Owner” means the “person who enjoys the economic rights or moral rights of a work”.
Regarding the enjoyment of copyright, there are three situations in the Copyright Act: joint works, works completed under an employment relationship, and works completed under commission.
1.  Joint work:
A work completed by two or more authors where the creation of each person cannot be separately exploited. In this case, all the authors share one copyright.
2.  Works completed under an employment relationship:
Such work is divided into “works completed within the scope of employment” and “works completed not within the scope of employment”. In practice, whether or not a work is completed within the scope of employment is determined by the nature of work, which is not necessarily related to the working hours and locations. According to Taiwan’s Copyright Act, both the employer and the employee can determine the enjoyment of the authorship and economic rights of copyright for works completed within the scope of employment.


3.  Works completed under commission

Q6:  
Is it necessary to specifically indicate the author, date, or © in a work to receive protection under Taiwan’s Copyright Act?
A6:
Article 13 of Taiwan’s Copyright Act provides: Where a person’s name or a pseudonym familiar to the public is represented in a normal way as the author on the original of a work, or on a published copy of the work, or in connection with a public release of a work, the person shall be presumed to be the author of the work. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to presumptions concerning the date and place of publication of a work as well as the ownership of economic rights therein.
Therefore, under Taiwan’s Copyright Act, it is not compulsory to indicate the author, economic rights holder, publication date, or publishing place in a work. Where the author, economic rights holder, date or place of publication of a work is indicated, the indicated author, economic rights holder, date or place of publication should be legally presumed as authentic. To overthrow the presumption, a person must provide definite evidences.
Neither does the law prescribe the format of copyright indications. In practice, the indications should be deemed sufficient by indicating relevant information in ordinary methods so that a third party acknowledges who the author or economic rights holder is, and then the indication of the symbol “©” is not necessary.
 
Q7:  
Does Taiwan’s Copyright Act also protect the copyright of foreign authors?
A7:
In principle, a country’s copyright law adopts the principle of “Territoriality”, that is, only works completed by the country’s nationals are protected within the territory of the country. However, through the principles of “reciprocity” and “national treatment” of international treaties, works completed by foreign authors are also protected under Taiwan’s Copyright Act in the same way as works completed by Taiwan nationals.
Taiwan’s Copyright Act protects the copyright of foreign authors based on the principle of “first publication” and “reciprocity.” Where a foreign author’s work is first published in Taiwan or his/her work is published in Taiwan within 30 days after its first publication elsewhere outside Taiwan, provided that the home country of the foreign author extends protection under identical circumstances to the works of Taiwan nationals in said country, the copyright of the foreign author’s work is protected by Taiwan’s Copyright Act. This is known as the “principle of first publication.” The “principle of reciprocity” means when the copyright of works of Taiwan nationals is protected by a foreign country by treaty or agreement, or under the domestic acts, regulations, or standard practice of the home country, the copyright of works completed by nationals of said country will also be protected by Taiwan’s Copyright Act. Please note where “principle of reciprocity” applies, the work of a foreign author need not be first published in Taiwan to enjoy copyright protection.
Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 2002. From then on, Taiwan must follow the regulations specified in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). According to TRIPS, a member state must protect the copyright of works created by nationals of all other member states. Therefore, Taiwan protects the copyright of works created by nationals of all WTO member states based on the “principle of reciprocity”.
As to the works created by people from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the copyrights thereof are also protected by Taiwan’s Copyright Act according to the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area and the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong and Macao Affairs.
 
Q8:  
If I think an idea embodied in a fiction is good, may I use the same idea in my fiction?
A8:
Article 10-1 of the Copyright Act provides: Protection for copyright that has been obtained in accordance with this Act shall only extend to the expression of the work in question, and shall not extend to the work’s underlying ideas, procedures, production processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, or discoveries. That is, the Copyright Act protects “works expressed according to concepts”. Everyone may create his/her own work according to the same concept. As long as a work possesses originality, even though the idea or concept thereof is identical to other authors’, the created work will still be protected by the Copyright Act.
 
Q9:  
May I sell parallel imported genuine DVDs or books?
A9:
Currently, parallel import of genuine products is banned by Taiwan’s Copyright Act. Even in the form of genuine DVDs or books, parallel import of the originals or copies of works without the permission of their economic rights holder, is against the Copyright Act, and a tortfeasor shall assume civil liabilities. Distributing them to the public by transferring ownership, for example, by sales or gifts, or leasing them, constitutes an infringement upon distribution rights and rental rights, and a tortfeasor shall assume civil and/or criminal liabilities.
However, the Copyright Act comes with a proviso: when importing only one copy for personal use or as part of inbound luggage, parallel import of foreign works in these circumstances is permitted. When importing genuine DVDs or books as parallel imports under the aforesaid lawful circumstances, you may sell them in capacity as owner without infringing upon copyright.