The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 brings numerous potential and actual legal risks, ranging from the supply chain to human resource matters. Following the declaration by the World Health Organization (where Taiwan unfortunately has neither membership nor observer status) of a public health emergency at the end of January, businesses need to take precautions regarding affected…
Advice from a long-time in-house counsel on arranging for external legal support. Working with outside counsel can be frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive. But when done right, the advice and services outside counsel provide are invaluable. Through 20 years of trial and error, and after spending millions of dollars on outside counsel fees, I have learned…
Companies need to pay proper attention to trademark registration and licensing on a global basis. By Richard L. Thurston and Christopher M. Neumeyer Strategies that companies employ to increase revenue and improve competitiveness often focus on promoting and protecting a company’s image, reputation, and branding. An obvious cornerstone of such strategies is the strategic development,…
BY NATHAN SNYDER AND JEFFREY LIEN Early this year, Taiwan’s legislature passed a set of amendments to the Labor Standards Act (LSA), Taiwan’s core statute governing labor and employment. These amendments, which were officially implemented on March 1, 2018, feature changes intended to provide greater flexibility to employers whose business needs may make compliance with the…
BY JOHN EASTWOOD, HEATHER HSIAO AND JEFFREY LIEN It’s never pleasant when a company needs to get rid of a senior manager, but many practical issues arise when a termination has to occur. American companies operating in Taiwan and in the larger Asia-Pacific region have started placing greater emphasis on legal, ethical, and office-conduct compliance,…
Criminal cases are moving through the courts, but companies see the need for still more education of judges and prosecutors. China is pushing rapidly to meet ambitious targets for developing its high-tech industries in its quest to move its economy up the global value chain and achieve greater self-sufficiency. As it does so, though, leading…
BY PAUL J. CASSINGHAM AND JEFFREY LIEN Like many jurisdictions, Taiwan has long imposed restrictions on the enforceability of employee post-termination noncompetition agreements. For many years, Taiwan courts have enforced such agreements only if the employer had a business interest worthy of protection, and only if the scope and duration of the noncompetition obligation were…
Controversy rages in the United States over the likely fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP was signed on February 4, 2016, but to take effect it must be ratified by at least six of the signatories, including the United States and Japan. U.S. President Obama has written that the TPP would level the…
Some suggestions on how to safeguard confidential company information. When it comes to your company’s sensitive non-public information, it’s an important first step to make sure that employees and management are both part of a protective culture. Too often non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or confidentiality terms are simply tucked away within a bunch of formal documents…
Patent litigation in the United States may be a challenge for Taiwanese companies. Two experts in the field share some tricks of the trade. Companies in Taiwan are facing an increasing number of intellectual property (IP) lawsuits in the United States. While a handful of leading Taiwan companies have, combined, been party to hundreds of…
