Answer ... Jurisdiction and governing law: Blockchains and decentralised applications (dapps) may be developed through several points in various countries, which may result in differing jurisdiction and governing laws.
If a dispute arises in relation to the intellectual property of blockchains and dapps, whether a court has international jurisdiction will be regulated by the domestic law of the relevant country. In Taiwan, the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements does not regulate the courts’ international jurisdiction. However, Taiwan courts have referred to the Code of Civil Procedure, recognising the courts’ international jurisdiction. For example, if an IP infringer is Taiwanese or if the act of infringement or its result occurred in Taiwan, the Taiwanese courts have international jurisdiction over the case according to Article 15 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
The type, duration, acquisition, extinguishment and change of IP rights relating to blockchains and dapps vary based on the governing law under which the rights holder claims the work should be protected. In Taiwan, Article 42 of the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements, which refers to Italian and Swiss law, regulates this as outlined above.
Thus, if developers claim that their blockchains or dapps should be protected under Taiwanese law, their IP rights should be governed by the Patent Law and the Copyright Law.
Open source: It may be difficult to protect blockchains or dapps based on open source under patents or copyright, as open source is publicly available to everyone. If blockchains or dapps are developed using open source, they may not meet the requirements for novelty examination under the Patent Law or originality under the Copyright Law, making it difficult to obtain patent or copyright protection.
However, if new creations are added, blockchains and dapps can be protected as derivative works, which are eligible for copyright protection.
Copyright piracy: Uploading digital copies of works to a non-fungible token (NFT) trading platform involves ‘reproduction’ and ‘public transmission’ in accordance with the Copyright Law. It may also involve ‘distribution’ of a copyrighted work if it is linked to a physical copy.
Currently, NFTs are frequently traded by individuals who do not own the copyright, which may infringe the copyright of the actual owners.