Taiwan to defend its tech companies by setting up an IP bank

Taiwan is planning to set up an intellectual property bank in light of the constant suing of Taiwan-based companies by foreign firms for patent infringement, according to that country's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), according to this report in Focus Taiwan; accusing competitors of stealing patents has become a normal way for international companies to compete with each other these days and large-scale Taiwan-based firms have been the constant targets of foreign competitors, the MOEA says.

In the light of this, Kingsley Egbuonu (Queen Mary, University of London) has put together this list of key facts and recent developments:

* TSMC (a Taiwan-based company) is the world's largest semiconductor foundry; 

* "We know it's coming": HTC joins defensive patent pool in December 2009; 

* Apple sues HTC for patent infringement in March 2010; 

* HTC sues Apple in May 2010; 

* "Let's not sue one another" Microsoft agrees with HTC, April 2010; 

* HTC inks patent pact with Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures - Licensing, Nov 2010; 

* Taiwan lets mainland invest in technology; 

* Taiwan Patent Court a Concern for U.S. Tech Firms (U.S companies losing patent infringement cases in Taiwan’s new IP court, February 2011;

Kingsley has a few questions and comments based on this:

1. With the recent news of Google attempting to sweep up millions of dollars’ worth of patent portfolio and the ever growing concern about the so-called patent trolls, will this state-led interventionist approach help Taiwanese companies fend off competitors? 

2. Why can't companies be left alone to fight it out with one another without government help?

3. Can the "IP bank" fail like our normal retail or investment banks and what would be the ramifications? 

4. Is it not ideal for the State to focus on developing innovative competition policies to police the monopoly it grants, rather than get involved in litigation between undertakings? 

5. Is this the new game or arms race in our 21st century patent world?