Newsletter
1998 IPR INFRINGEMENT CRIMINAL CASES
A total of 4,295 cases involving criminal charges of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations were taken up by the Public Prosecutors' Offices in 1998, according to Ministry of Justice statistics. In the same year, Public Prosecutors' Offices decided to prosecute a total of 1,483 such cases. Further statistics of 1998 IPR infringement cases are detailed in the table below.
| Nationality of applicant／Number of patents | Invention | New utility model | New design | Subtotal |
| Republic of China | 5213 | 21123 | 7907 | 34243 |
| Japan | 6414 | 520 | 882 | 7816 |
| United States | 5641 | 326 | 443 | 6410 |
| Germany | 1349 | 45 | 86 | 1480 |
| Republic of Korea | 796 | 47 | 25 | 868 |
| Switzerland | 409 | 11 | 91 | 511 |
| Netherlands | 374 | 25 | 71 | 470 |
| Britain | 380 | 27 | 40 | 447 |
| France | 355 | 13 | 40 | 408 |
| Hong Kong | 11 | 27 | 68 | 106 |
| Australia | 70 | 7 | 8 | 85 |
| Other | 966 | 64 | 129 | 1159 |
| Total | 21978 | 22235 | 9790 | 54003 |