Examination Guidelines on Non-Traditional Trademarks amended and effective August 1, 2025

　The TIPO announced that in response to the amendments to the Trademark Act, which came into effect since May 1, 2025, requiring that in order for a proposed mark to be registrable, the functional element in a proposed mark shall be represented by dotted lines, and a declaration shall be made to exclude such element as a part of the mark if it cannot be represented by dotted lines (Article 30, Paragraph 4 of the Trademark Act), relevant provisions of the Enforcement Rules of the Trademark Act have also been amended and enforced accordingly (Subparagraph 10, Paragraph 1 of Article 12 and Paragraph 2 of Article 13 of the Enforcement Rules of the Trademark Act).  In line with these legislative changes, the Examination Guidelines on Non-Traditional Trademarks has also been amended, with its amendment promulgated on July 23, 2025 and taking effect on August 1, 2025.  

The key amendments are summarized as follows:

1.  Representation of functional elements of a trademark 

(1)  Functional elements of a trademark must be represented by dotted lines.
(2)  If such elements cannot be depicted by dotted lines, a declaration should be made to disclaim such elements as part of the trademark. 

2.  For the trademark representation using dotted lines, the trademark applicant shall provide explanations in the trademark description to clarify that such elements represented by dotted lines are functional features or to indicate 
how such elements are used on goods or services as non-distinctive features.  Such explanations are required to assist in trademark application examination and in defining the scope of trademark rights

3.  Clarification of dominant distinctive characters of non-traditional trademarks, different from the two-dimensional characters of traditional trademarks.  

(1)  The dominant distinctive characters of non-traditional trademarks include colors, three-dimensional shapes, motion, holograms, and sounds, etc.. 

(2)  Taking a three-dimensional trademark as an example, its distinctive features refer to the commercial impression formed by an overall three-dimensional shape, which is defined by its length, width, and height and applied to the product itself or its packaging container.  If only text, graphics, or symbols are presented in dotted lines on a specific part of a product, or if the applicant disclaims certain shapes as part of a proposed mark and fails to clearly and precisely represent the proposed three-dimensional mark to be protected, the applicant will be required to either supplement the explanation or file an application for registering the proposed mark as a two-dimensional trademark

4.  In order to clearly and accurately identify the shape and configuration of a proposed three-dimensional mark for its designated goods or services, the applicant must provide a trademark description explaining the 3D shape.  If the application designates goods or services in multiple classes, the three-dimensional shape for each class must be individually defined and described.  

5.  In response to practical examination needs, examples of trademark descriptions are provided in the amendment to provide useful references.  (Released 2025.07.24)  
/CCS