Litigation is at the very heart for the comprehensive legal practice. FirstLaw’s litigators have broad experience and capacity to find creative solutions to handle our client’s dispute in all aspects of litigations, covering:
- Intellectual Property: trademark, copyright, patent, and Trade Secret, etc.
- Business disputes
- Corporation issues
- Antitrust an Unfair competition
- Construction and Real Estate
- Banking and Security
- Arbitration
- Communication and Media
- Fair Trade and Consumer Protection
- Labor and Employment
- Insurance
- Civil and Criminal Issues
Throughout its history, Firstlaw has successfully established numerous representative litigation matters in a wide rage of areas for our domestic and foreign clients. For instance, our litigation lawyers have conducted the Copyright Trail and won the matter on behalf of Michelin (France), which the Taiwan courts have accepted the case as the precedent for copyright matters. From hundreds of lawsuits, we understand how to provide appropriate guidance and legal strategies to help our client break through the legal challenges and find the most cost effective solutions to win the successful results both throughout Taiwan and overseas. We welcome your enquiries.
Civil & Criminal Procedures
Civil Procedures
Depend on the nature of the matter there are different methods applicable to resolve the matter, namely:
1. ORDINARY PROCEEDINGS
Ordinary proceedings refer to all types of civil lawsuit, despite whether it is money dispute, contract or defamation, etc. Taiwan works with three level court system, namely District Court, which is the court of first appearance, next is Appeal Court, and finally, the Supreme Court.
2. DEMAND PROCEEDINGS
In cases where the object of a creditor's claim is the performance of a certain amount of payment in cash, other replaceable things or securities, a creditor may apply to the court for issuance of a payment order in accordance with the demand proceeding without going through trial, unless Debtor raise objection to the application.
3. MEDIATION PROCEEDINGS
This is an ex-parte application or with consent from parties, limited to certain matters as stipulated in the Taiwanese Civil Procedure’s Act, to apply to the court for the appointment of a mediator in order to negotiate and settle the matter accordingly.
4. SMALL CLAIM PROCEEDINGS
This proceeding deals with any amount in dispute that is less than NTD 100,000 and is clear, identifiable and certain. The hearing usually held in the evenings or weekends. Beside the above mentioned, one needs to keep in mind is that there can only be one party that is a juristic person, and not both.
5. SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS
Summary proceeding shall apply to actions with regard to proprietary rights where the claim amount is not more than NTD 500,000. Summary proceeding shall be applied subject to certain circumstances as stipulated in the Taiwanese Civil Procedure’s Act.
Arbitration Procedures
According to the Arbitration Law of Taiwan, parties with written Arbitration Agreement may proceed with the arbitration as stipulated therein. The arbitrator shall possess legal or professional knowledge or experiences, a reputation for integrity and impartiality. Where in absence of appointment of arbitrator or a method of appointment in Arbitration Agreement, each party may appoint its own arbitrator and the appointed arbitrators shall jointly appoint a third arbitrator to chair the arbitration. Should for any reason that the parties failed to appoint arbitrator within prescribed period, the other party can apply to the court for the appointment thereof.
Once the arbitrators has been appointed the arbitration shall be conducted in private unless stipulated otherwise, the judgment handed shall be binding on all relevant parties and have the same effect as the final judgment given by the Court.
Criminal Procedures
Our firm has many experiences in criminal defenses and has helped complainants to raise many complaints. We have dealt with matter such as murder, counterfeit of goods, possession and selling of illegal drugs, drug abuse, infringement to right to freedom, compulsion, rape, deception, obstruction of pubic order, grievous bodily injury which lead to murder, fraud, attempted murder, possession of illegal firearms, public indecency, threat, fabrication of documentation and negotiable instruments, assault, customary infringement, hostile takeover, possession of illegal goods, theft, drunk & driving, blackmail, robbery, and so on. What follows is a basic diagram for the criminal procedure: