THSRC Registered the Picture of THSR 700T as a Trademark With a View to the Business Potential of THSR Train Related Products.　Taiwan Railway Administration Likewise Will Have the Picture of New High-Speed Train Trademarked.

Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) has applied for registering the picture of THSR 700T train as a 2D and 3D mark with the Intellectual Property Office, targeting the uncontested market of THSR train related products that is to prosper after the commencement of service of Taiwan “Shinkansen” in October 2006.  The THSR train related products are these such as three-dimension train dynamic models, sports hats, T-shirts, mugs, mobile phone straps, chocolates, lunch boxes, all of which will bear the picture of THSR 700T and be sold at every station.

 

With the growing awareness of intellectual property rights, THSRC and Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) both have applied for trademark registration for their trains.  In addition to the purpose of maintaining their rights and goodwill, THSRC and TRA coincide with each other in foreseeing the business opportunities following trademark registration; they both manage to create a “blue ocean” in the railway business.  A railway network represents and embodies a railway company; France’s TGV, Germany’s ICE, and Japan’s Shinkansen all impress people with their distinctive design elements, and all the railway companies over the world (including rapid transit system) would add the distinguished design features of their trains onto related products for sale to pull in massive profits.

 

Such related products featured by the design of trains become valuable.  In the case of TRA, the "nostalgia boxed lunches" (Chinese: 懷舊便當) made by TRA's Catering Services Division carry the TRA badge and picture of TRA train and thus become a product exclusively released by TRA.  Even though major chain convenient stores try to jump on the bandwagon by presenting similar products named "Railway Lunch" (Chinese: 鐵路便當) or “Locomotive Lunch” (Chinese: 火車頭飯包), they can never be like TRA’s “nostalgia boxed lunches” that has resurrected people’s memory for the ancient steam locomotive and become a collection and even exported to Japan.  (2006.5)

/CCS