TIPS^®  Taiwan Intellectual Property Special

China Updates

Proposed Amendments to Trademark Law

Taiwan's patent and trademark office has completed a preliminary draft of the amendments to the Trademark Law. The proposed changes include the following:

Colors registrable as trademark. The draft would allow registration of a combination of colors, to be in line with Article 15 of the TRIPs.

Grace period for renewal application. The draft provides for a six-month grace period for a trademark renewal application commencing from the expiration date. Government charges for a renewal application filed within such period will be doubled.

Well-known marks. The provision for well-known marks, which was deleted from the current Trademark Law, will be reinstated, in view of the TRIPs and Paris Convention. An application for registration of a mark that is confusingly similar to a well-known mark will be rejected.

Secondary meaning and descriptiveness. The draft clearly specifies that a descriptive mark may be registrable upon acquisition of secondary meaning. For background information, please see "Trademark Right Through Secondary Meaning", above.