Article 98 of the Patent Act stipulates marking of patent certificate number: The patent certificate number shall be marked on the patented article. If such marking cannot be fixed on the patented article, the patentee may make such marking on the labels or packaging, or make such marking in a distinct way sufficient to draw people’s attention. Where no patent marking is made, evidence shall be produced when claiming damages to prove that the infringer knows or has a reason to know that the said article is under patent protection.  Paragraph 1 of Article 21 of the Fair Trade Act governs false or misleading representation: No enterprise shall make or use false or misleading representations or symbols on the matter that is relevant to goods and is sufficient to affect trading decisions on goods or in advertisements, or in any other way make it known to the public.

 

The 1647th committee meeting of the Fair Trade Commission decided on 3 May 2023 that after the patent right has been revoked and there is no patent, the advertisements still alleging such a patent constitute false representation in violation of the Fair Trade Act.

 

The FTC stated that the use of the term "patent" in advertisements gives the impression that it is more original, novel, and progressive than other unpatented products, and is protected by the Patent Act, which in turn affects consumers' transaction decisions. Therefore, once the industry advertises a patent, it should ensure that the relevant information is consistent with the actual situation so as not to violate the Fair Trade Act and be punished.

 

The FTC also punished a case in 2003 according the Fair Trade Act that the trademark application was still pending for review but the trademark applicant indicated trademark registration marking adjacent to its unregistered trademarks.