If only we could see our future, life would be easy. We could know what will be the impact of what we are doing today. However, the roads ahead of us are always in the mist and we cannot be always lucky enough to have only favorable moments. One’s decision in every moment will decide or shape the eventual performance. So one needs to have a sober mind before a stuck or confusing moment to take rational measures in solving the encountered difficulties to better incubate the intended goal or results.
Being decisive or rational may have different levels. The more equipped or knowledgeable you are or have, the upper level you own. It is therefore our basic recognition to well-equip or well-master ourselves to greet the challenges present in our life journeys. While this holds true for all walks of our life, matters of law need very specific talent. It is not for the common people to understand each and every aspect of the law that could affect their daily life and business. For matters of business law and specific regulations, one must depend on experts in the field. The patent attorneys and patent engineers at Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law are just the ones businesses can rely on.
A Trusted Firm
It is Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law’s philosophy to provide competent legal services that other firms cannot comparably provide. The necessitated ensuing problem is how they can provide so? The secret lies in selecting, edifying, and nurturing people who have the following personalities: learned in expertise, morally earnest and sincerely behaved in mind, and strictly disciplined between give and take.
It is well-believed that such properties are key factors for people to properly and competently behave themselves.
The staff at the firm normally holds outstanding and advanced degrees and are generally graduated from the top three universities in Taiwan. The prominent staff is dedicated to providing the best quality service in IPRs in this country. By the perseverance that they only do what they do and only perform works that enable the firm to be deep and far, Deep and Far can then equate the reality with its name.
About one-half of the top 100 incorporations in Taiwan have experienced seeking patents for their techniques. Interestingly, more than one-fifth of the top 100 incorporations have once or more used the services of Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law. Hi-Tech companies in the science-based industrial park located at Hsin Chu are playing the most important role in booming the economy of Taiwan. Likewise, mMore than 50% of the patent-experienced companies in that park have entrusted Deep & Far with their IPR works.
The firm has been highly ranked by most reputable IP survey entities including Chambers & Partner; Managing I.P.; IP STARS; International Advisory Experts; Corporate INTL; Asialaw; Corporate LiveWire; Corporate USA Today; Global 100; Asia IP; and more. It currently represents international giants, like Armani, Baidu, Beckhoff, BYD, CICC, Chep, Cypress, Dr. Reddy, Gleason, InterDigital, Lenovo, Lupin, Motorola, MPS, NovaLED, Oppo, Piramal, and more.
An Experienced Name
Deep & Far attorneys-at-law was founded in 1992 by C.F. Tsai because he understood that other firms’ services may not be imaginarily satisfactory, or may not be wonderful enough for the clients. The firm grew rapidly in the early days of its establishment because of its competence. As time goes by and when more and more newcomers jumped into the market, competence is no more a dominating factor and it challenges the philosophy or mindset of running a business or maneuvering the journey. The founder, Mr. C. F. Tsai is the first patent practitioner in the IP industry in Taiwan who both has technological (Marine Technology from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University/NYMCTU)) and law (LLB from National Taiwan University/NTU and LLM from Soo Chou University) backgrounds and is qualified as a local attorney-at-law.
To secure the outstanding service output, one of the successors of the firm is Yu-Li Tsai, a Bachelor from the Electrical Engineering Department of NTU and a Master’s from the Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering of NTU. He received an IP Master’s degree from UNH Law (Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property) and a Scientific Law Master’s degree from NYMCTU and earned the qualifications of Taiwan Patent Attorney and patent agent of US and Mainland China. Another successor is Lu-Fa Tsai who is an attorney-at-law and graduated from the Department of Law of NTU, the Graduate Institute of Law of NTU, and the Faculty of Law of the University of Göttingen in Germany.
Proven and Efficient Methodology
There is no formula for overnight success. The way to the top for Deep & Far started with the way they tackled their initial struggle. The secret was to insist on the provision of the best quality and improvement of the service quality so that neither the client nor the competitors can find a criticizable loophole in the work quality they provide. As an example, they worked on the validity of Taiwan Utility Model No. 4986, filed and patented in 1971, because it involved historical damage records and disputes until December 17, 2010. More than 50 civil, criminal and administrative court cases have been filed in this regard, and more than 200 judges have ruled in favor of the patentee. This firm represented the accused infringer to challenge the validity of the patent at issue in 1996. Deep & Far won two times in the very same cases at the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), ruling that the Patent Office and the lower court were wrong. Unfortunately, the patentee made it possible that the Code of Civil Proceedings was amended in 2003 to stipulate that even if Deep & Far won the very same administrative cases, the civil damage cases could not be overturned and that it eventually lost the very same cases before SAC in 2010. “The weapons we had are merely justice in mind and the truth and our competence to show that the patent at issue should be invalid. Our efforts then brought lots of attention, sympathy, and admiration,” says C.F. Tsai.
The roadblocks and challenges included: (1) the severe price cut competition because competitors keep entering this field in various forms; (2) the domestic Clients are typically very cost-sensitive, especially the small and medium-size entities, and often ask for a discount or extra free services.
For the price cut competition, Deep & Far did not like to participate in the price wars and they found that the fundamental problem is that those Clients who ask for a discount or extra free services do not really understand the value of IP rights, and the reasons why they file the IP applications are just because they know the rights are important but they do not know why and how the rights are important.
Therefore, the firm’s strategies to overcome the price cut competition are (1) sharing the knowledge of IP rights when they have the opportunity to meet with Clients; (2) sharing the approaches how they provide services with quality higher than other competitors’ and convince clients that they are the better choice even though their service fees are slightly higher than others. “ For example, we tell the Client that we are confident in and proud of our competence, and welcome to be challenged to so prove or show by, e.g. (a) sending us a pending or granted a patent for our comments about how we can improve the claims, (b) sending us a pending patent specification without the claims for us to draft the claims for the client’s comparison with the original claims, or 3) sending to the firm the client is currently using and this firm at the same time an initial disclosure so that the client can compare and find out which firm can provide the better claims,” explains Tsai.
Becoming a Leader
As per C.F. Tsai, Perseverance (to pursue the chased goal), toughness (to take challenges encountered in chasing the goal), and courage (to cope with all ensuing difficulties upon taking challenges) are good attributes or friends that are always your companions who are often ready to assist you in maneuvering the life journey for exploring a successful life.
On being asked if he believes in micromanagement, he says, “Because devils are hidden in details, micro- or efficient management are important. Nevertheless, management is costly and needs subtle skills. The most efficient management is embedded in the routine works automatically subject to micro-management under an effective system. This is never easy and maybe a reward and punishment system under which everyone needs not feel satisfactory but accepts to be governed, and colleagues are willing to pay efforts in working and try best to safeguard the interests of the clients and the firm.”
He continues, “In the past, the patent portfolio is a valuable asset which deserves handsome investments.
There is a tendency now that although the patent portfolio is still important, a company would like to build it under a predetermined budget. It is therefore a firm being the most competent needs not necessarily win the service opportunities. Accordingly, service opportunities can be secured at a right time from the right person in a service-seeking company.”
The Change, Brought about by the Pandemic
Because every industry will keep rolling, Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law staunchly believes that the values of perseverance in adhering to quality service, the toughness of never omitting or neglecting quality service, and the courage to chase quality service endlessly are the most priceless tools to help the firm prosper or survive in the future. The recent years become even more challenging because of market competition and the unprecedented pandemic situation of COVID-19 which is merely something similar to a struggle or challenge in the society met in the past so that they need to or just stay with the virtues of perseverance, toughness, and courage related to cognition of quality services, and consigns the future results to the universe what it should deserve through adhering to such virtues.
Words of Wisdom:
Here’s what C.F. Tsai has to say to the young entrepreneurs:
“Never give a “no” answer. Try to improve society while achieving your goals.
Don’t stop after you overcome a small difficulty, because you may encounter new or bigger obstacles. Try to do what is very important.
The best companies are driven by vision. Therefore, you should stay firm and full of passion.
Try to locate the correct colleagues.
Some entrepreneurs end up in failure because they lack perseverance and problem-solving characteristics. The secret to succeeding, at least in the early stages, lies in the ability to deal with problems. If you can solve a problem even faster which you have never had, you should have the characteristics of success.
If you dare wait for success through virtues, success is a shadow you cannot get rid of.”
