Winners delivers ISO 56001 × TIPS trade secret and innovation consulting — confidentiality systems, pre-departure audits, and patent strategy.
Intended Beneficiaries
- ✓High R&D technology and manufacturing companies where IP is a core competitive asset
- ✓Companies with overseas expansion needs requiring cross-border IP protection
- ✓Enterprises at risk of employees departing with trade secrets or know-how
- ✓Companies that have experienced counterfeiting, infringement, or trademark squatting
The Difference Between Acting and Waiting
✅ When you act
R&D enterprises with complete trade secret protection systems hold the initiative in technology licensing negotiations — clearly quantifying IP asset value, with licensing income becoming a second profit curve.
❌ When you wait
Companies without protection systems find it extremely difficult to gather evidence when R&D results are replicated by competitors or taken by departing employees. Years of investment lost.
✅ When you act
ISO 56001 is the international passport — EU, US, and Japanese manufacturers recognize ISO, not TIPS. Companies with ISO 56001 certification demonstrate credible innovation management capability in cross-border technology collaboration negotiations, securing the ability to lead terms.
❌ When you wait
Companies with only TIPS certification cannot verify their IP management capability to international partners, who prefer certified alternatives — causing Taiwan hidden champions to miss cross-border collaboration opportunities.
✅ When you act
Companies implementing the ISO 56001 innovation management system achieve standardized R&D processes, higher innovation success rates, and replicable innovation mechanisms — building a compounding technology moat.
❌ When you wait
Companies dependent on individual heroics for R&D lose core know-how whenever key engineers depart. Technology continuity breaks down and R&D results cannot be replicated or scaled.
Framework Comparison & Implementation Strategy
TIPS (Taiwan IP Office)
Domestic certification focused on protecting existing trade secrets. Recognized in Taiwan government procurement and domestic partnerships. EU, US, and Japanese manufacturers do not recognize it — cannot build trust in cross-border negotiations.
ISO 56001 (International Standard)
International innovation management certification directly recognized by EU, US, and Japanese market partners. The international passport for cross-border technology licensing and collaboration negotiations. Focus: systematically creating new value.
High-Risk Reality
R&D personnel massively download technical documents in the three months before resignation. Upon joining a competitor, they immediately replicate the same products. When the company sues, there is insufficient evidence that the technology constituted a protected trade secret.
The Winners Protection Mechanism
Establishing technical confidentiality classification, access logs, digital watermarking, and pre-departure audit SOPs. Building verifiable protection records before incidents occur — ensuring legal action is effective.
Service Delivery Process (Four Stages)
IP Inventory & Gap Assessment
Systematically catalog all technology, brand, and data assets; evaluate current protection gaps.
Protection Strategy Planning
Design patent filing strategy, trademark registration roadmap, and trade secret protection mechanisms based on target markets and competitive landscape.
Policy & Contract Framework
Establish employee NDAs, non-compete clauses, and IP management policies to ensure full legal protection of the company's assets.
Monitoring & Infringement Response
Implement IP infringement monitoring and develop response SOPs to take swift action before damage escalates.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can we prevent employees from taking core technology when they leave?▼
Comprehensive NDAs, access-controlled technical documentation, know-how formalization, and information classification policies significantly reduce this risk. Winners provides full policy design and legal document review.
Our trademark is registered in Taiwan — are we protected overseas too?▼
Taiwan trademark registration only covers Taiwan. For overseas markets, you must register in each target country, or use the Madrid System for international trademark registration. Winners can help design the most cost-effective cross-border strategy.
Is patent filing expensive? Is it always necessary?▼
Costs vary by country and technical complexity. Not all technology should be patented (filing means disclosure); in some cases, maintaining it as a trade secret offers better protection. Winners helps you make the right strategic choice.
We have discovered a competitor is infringing our IP. What should we do?▼
Start by preserving complete evidence of infringement, assess the scope, and evaluate options including negotiation, licensing, or litigation. Winners provides infringement response SOPs to help you act at the most advantageous time.
How did the Waymo v. Uber trade secret case end? Lessons for Taiwanese companies?▼
Former Google/Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski downloaded 14,000 technical files before resigning, then helped Uber develop self-driving technology. Waymo sued in 2017; Uber settled in 2018 for $245M in equity, and Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in 2020. The case proves pre-departure download logs are decisive litigation evidence. Winners builds technical confidentiality classification, access logging, and pre-departure audit SOPs — creating defensible protection records before incidents occur.
How much did the 2018 TSMC WannaCry incident cost? How does it connect to trade secrets?▼
In August 2018, TSMC production lines were infected by a WannaCry variant, halting three 12-inch fabs and causing NT$5.2B (~$170M USD) in losses. The incident was not just cybersecurity — it broke the protection chain for customer IP and process trade secrets. Winners integrates ISO 56001 × ISO 27001 to build a three-layer "storage × transmission × access" defense for trade secrets, ensuring integrity even under external attack.
Can AI companies scrape web data to train models without infringing trade secrets? What does Clearview AI tell us?▼
Clearview AI scraped 3 billion face images for AI training and was fined a cumulative €100M+ in France, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, and UK between 2022-2024. The lessons for enterprises: (1) public information that includes trade secrets (specs, process parameters) needs ToS and robots.txt anti-scraping notices; (2) before procuring third-party AI services, verify the legality of their training data sources. Winners builds AI-era trade secret boundary rules and third-party AI vendor review SOPs.
Can SMEs use generic NDA templates? Which clauses do courts typically void?▼
Three common defects in generic NDAs: (1) over-broad confidentiality scope (failure to specifically define "confidential information" voids the clause in court); (2) excessive non-compete periods (Taiwan courts generally do not enforce beyond 2 years); (3) excessive liquidated damages (Article 252 of the Civil Code allows judicial reduction). Winners drafts enforceable NDA + non-compete + liquidated damages combinations based on Taiwan Trade Secret Act, Labor Standards Act, and Supreme Court precedents.
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Trade Secret & Innovation Mgmt (TS/IMS)
Request a Complimentary ConsultationRelated Deep Insights
In-depth analysis by Winners consultants, 6,000+ words per article
IP Meets Human Rights: ECHR Case Law and ISO 56001 Compliance for Taiwan Firms
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has begun reviewing intellectual property disputes through a fundamental rights lens, raising the compliance bar for firms operating in Europe. Helfer's 2008 landmark analysis of three ECHR IP rulings introduces three analytical paradigms and establishes that only arbitrary government conduct triggers property rights violations. Taiwan enterprises should implement ISO 56001-based IMS within 7–12 months, aligning with Article 2 of Taiwan's Trade Secret Act to meet cross-border IP compliance demands.
ts-imsR&D Spending Doesn't Guarantee IP Protection: Kanwar's Cross-Country Findings and ISO 56001 for Taiwan
Sunil Kanwar's cross-country panel data study (1981-1995) found no significant positive relationship between private R&D investment and the strength of intellectual property protection nations provide. For Taiwan enterprises, this means increased R&D spending does not automatically strengthen IP protection. Companies must proactively build ISO 56001-compliant Innovation Management Systems (IMS) and meet Taiwan Trade Secret Act Article 2 requirements to effectively safeguard their R&D outcomes.
ts-imsInsight: Emergency physicians can be leaders in clinical innovation:
ts-imsAvoiding IP Problems: Field's Research on ISO 56001 & Trade Secret Protection in Taiwan
Field (2001) reveals that most IP losses stem from internal management failures, not external attacks, and that patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets must be used in combination. For Taiwanese companies, integrating ISO 56001 IMS with Taiwan Trade Secret Act compliance is the most effective way to protect R&D assets. Winners Consulting Services Co. Ltd. can help establish a baseline protection mechanism within 90 days.
ts-imsIP as National Competitiveness: Idris 2002 Insights for Taiwan Trade Secret & ISO 56001 IMS
WIPO Director-General Kamil Idris predicted in 2002 that IP law would become the world's fastest-growing legal field, with intangible assets as the core driver of national prosperity. Taiwanese enterprises without a structured ISO 56001 Innovation Management System (IMS) face significant competitive disadvantage and legal exposure under Taiwan's Trade Secret Act Article 10. Winners Consulting Services Co. Ltd. helps enterprises build compliant IMS frameworks within 90 days.
ts-imsISO 56001 IMS Assessment & Benchmarking: A Taiwan Trade Secret Protection Guide
The EU-funded TIMS project developed a PAM (Innovation Process Assessment Model) based on ISO 33020 to quantify ISO 56000 innovation management system capability levels and enable global benchmarking. For Taiwan enterprises, this methodology directly supports ISO 56001 adoption and compliance with Taiwan's Trade Secret Act Article 2 reasonable protection measures requirements, providing a structured pathway to complete IMS framework implementation within 90 days.
ts-imsDPL-VIKOR Innovation Risk Assessment: ISO 56001 & Trade Secret Protection for Taiwan Enterprises
Taiwan enterprises face complex risks in technological innovation projects that traditional assessment methods struggle to quantify. The 2023 DPL-VIKOR framework systematically integrates uncertain linguistic judgments from multiple decision-makers, improving reliability. Winners Consulting recommends Taiwan firms adopt this approach alongside ISO 56001 Clause 8.3 and Trade Secrets Act compliance requirements to build auditable innovation risk management systems within 90 days.
ts-imsCuriosity-Driven Innovation: What ISO 56001 and Trade Secret Protection Leaders Must Know
Conceptual innovations—strategic insights not yet formalized as technical documents—are Taiwan's most vulnerable trade secrets. Jun Wen's Five-Dimension Curiosity Framework (Deprivation Sensitivity, Joyous Exploration, Social Curiosity, Stress Tolerance, Thrill Seeking) offers enterprises a structured tool to identify and protect human-centered insights, directly aligning with ISO 56001 innovation opportunity identification requirements and Taiwan's Trade Secret Act compliance obligations.