ANNOUNCEMENT OF TRADEMARK RENEWAL ACCEPTANCE PRINCIPLE AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE OTHER SIDE'S TRADEMARK PRIORITY CLAIM BY TAIWAN AND CHINA

11/01/2010

---

The Intellectual Property Office made two important announcements and the main points are as follows:
l	Trademark renewal acceptance principle
	If a trademark renewal application is filed more than six (6) months before the expiration of the registration term of the trademark, the application will not be accepted.
	According to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Act, an application for renewing the term of trademark rights should be filed within six (6) months before the expiration of the term, but in practice, the Intellectual Property Office never strictly enforced. To avoid disputes, any application filed on or after 1 September 2010 that does not comply with the provision will not be accepted according to the law.
l	Taiwan and China commenced to accept each other's trademark priority claim on 22 November 2010.
	Since the Cross-Strait Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Cooperation took effect on 12 September 2010, the competent authorities on both sides of Taiwan Straits have made efforts in completing the adjustment of their internal operations. Starting from 22 November 2010, Taiwan and China accept priority claim based on the same trademark application filed on the other side, provided that the basic application must be filed on or after 12 September 2010 (i.e., effective date of the Agreement).
	Thereafter, if a trademark is first filed in China, the applicant can, within six (6) months following the filing date of the application in China, file the corresponding trademark application with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office claiming the filing date of the Chinese case as the priority date of the Taiwanese case, and thereby enjoy priority to prevail over any applications in the interim filed by any third party for an identical or similar trademark. Likewise, if a trademark is first filed in Taiwan, the applicant is entitled to claim the priority based on the Taiwanese case for its corresponding trademark application in China as long as such application is filed within six (6) months of the filing date of the Taiwanese case