Revised Law Puts Unconventional Items Under Trademark Protection

Taipei, Nov. 24, 2010 (CENS)--Unconventional items, such as dynamic objects and sound, can be put under the protection of trademark, so long as they can be used to identify the products or services provided with the trademark, according to the draft revision of the “Trademark Law,” which cleared the screening of the Executive Yuan (the Cabinet) yesterday (Nov. 23).

Wang Mei-hua, director general of the Intellectual Property Office, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), noted that the revision is made with reference to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks (STLT). It specifies that trademark refers to any identifying object, which can take the form of written material, graphic, color, 3D shape, dynamic object, full image, sound, or the combination of the aforementioned items.

In response to the emergence of new forms of transactions, including digital audio-visual materials, electronic media, and the Internet, the holding, display, sales, export, or import of such objects, for the purpose of marketing, all fall within the scope of behaviors concerning trademark usage, according to the draft revision.

Wang explained that trademark must have the capacity of identification, enabling consumers to recognize the supplying sources of products or services and capable of distinguishing them from other products or services. She pointed out that in the future, scent will also be put under the protection of trademark, after the determination of its makeup in the enforcement rules, a standard which has yet to be completed in most countries.