The Trademark Act draft amendment made by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office has been reviewed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (the MOEA) and submitted to the Executive Yuan for review and evaluation on March 4, 2010, according to reports from Jaw-Hwa International Patent & Trademark & Law Offices.
Main points of the amendment to the current Trademark Act, according to Jaw-Hwa, include:
• The amended Trademark Law explicitly stipulates that the objects which can be applied for registration and be protected are trademarks, certification marks, collective membership marks and collective trademarks. (Amended Articles 1 and 2).
• The amended Trademark Law explicitly stipulates that it can be recognized as trademark use if it is possible to hold, display, sell, export or import goods or services by means of audio and visual digitization, electronic media, network or other mediums for marketing purposes. (Amended Article 5)
• The amended Trademark Law opens up any signs sufficient to identify the source of goods/services are eligible to apply for trademark registrations, and explicitly stipulates that the mark specimens must be presented in clear, unambiguous, complete, objective, durable and easy to be understood manners. (Amended Articles 18 and 19 III)
• The amended Trademark Law includes the priority rights stipulated in Article 11 of the Paris Convention. That is, when goods or services bearing a trademark to be applied for registration are exhibited at an official or officially recognized international exhibition held in the territory of Taiwan, and the trademark is filed for registration within six months after the exhibition, the date of introduction of the goods and services into the exhibition shall be regarded as the filing date. (Amended Article 21)
• The amended Trademark Law explicitly stipulates that unsubstantial changes to a registered trademark will be accepted. (Amended Article 23 proviso)
• The amended Trademark Law explicitly stipulates that the applicants may file a rectification to the particulars of an application or registration provided that such rectification still preserves the sameness of the trademark and does not extend the scope of goods or services. (Amended Articles 25 and 38)
• The amended Trademark Law explicitly stipulates that a trademark may be jointly owned by two or more persons, and adds relevant provisions for application, assignment, division, contraction, license and pledge of a jointly owned trademark. (Amended Articles 7, 28 and 46)
