Cross-Straits IPR Officials Meet for the First Time.　The Issues on Outflanked Registrations of Places of Origin of Taiwanese Agricultural Products Find A Way Out.

 

　The situation that registrations of places of origin of Taiwanese tea, such as Ah Li Shan and Sun Moon Lake (Chinese: 阿里山and日月潭respectively) are outflanked by Mainland Chinese finally finds a way out.  TSAI Lien-Sheng, Director-General of Taiwan Intellectual Property Office and the highest ranking IPR official in Taiwan, recently followed an IPR delegation of the National Federation of Industries to pay a formal visit to the IPR competent authorities in PRC.  The Taiwan delegation also provided a list of the “places of origin for celebrated Taiwanese agricultural products” for future reference use in trademark examinations in the PRC.  The PRC trademark office showed their good intention by informing that the concerned party may apply the “empire provision” of the PRC Trademark Law to file an application with the PRC trademark office to invalidate the trademark registrations of the places of origin of the Taiwanese tea being outflanked in China. 

 

  At present, 8 applications for invalidation of the outflanked registered marks, including Ah Li Shan, are under proper handling, and the PRC trademark office expected the Taiwanese applicants to produce relevant materials and evidence and also to present grounds of the application so as to facilitate the handling.

 

The PRC trademark office stated that Subparagraph 8 of Article 10, Trademark Law of the PRC, which provides that “those signs detrimental to socialist morals or customs or having other unhealthy influences shall not be used as trademarks”, is applicable to support such application.  In other words, where these outflanked registered marks cause deceptive and confusing conditions to the consumers, the trademark office shall invalidate such registration ex officio.  (2006.6)

/CCS