The Executive Yuan Approved of Proposed Trademark Act Changes to Make Non-Traditional Marks, such as Scent, Sound, and Motion Marks Eligible for Trademark Protection.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has been reviewing amendments to the Trademark Act since 2004 and the Executive Yuan completed examination in November 2010.  The amendments will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation recently.

The amendments include many drastic changes to the Trademark Act, such as inclusion of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks that contains and integrates the trademark registration application procedures adopted by countries around the world, so as to place Taiwan on a par with the established and international standards, to cope with industrial and commercial rapid development and the diverse commercial transactions, and also to revise those inapplicable provisions.

The amendments extend the scope of items that can be trademarked and eligible for trademark protection to cover trademarks, certification marks, and collective marks, and collective trademarks. 

As transactions have begun to be completed in the ways of digital audio/video, electronic media, and the Internet, the acts of trademark use include those of holding, displaying, selling, exporting, or importing commodities or services by digital audio/video, electronic media, the Internet, or other new transaction types for the purpose of marketing. 

The amendments also include additional provisions with respect to exhibition priority mechanism that expands the circumstances under which a priority claim may be made by a trademark applicant to file an application for a mark that has been used on goods or services exhibited in an international exhibition sponsored by or recognized by the government within six (6) months after the exhibition date of the said commodities or services and take the exhibition date as the filing date of the said application. 

In addition, according to the amendments, the national emblems, banners, and other badges of WTO members, or any official certifying signs and international cross-governmental organizations’ symbols become subject matters eligible for trademark protection.  (2010.11)
/CCS