Date: 27 May, 2021

In practice, Taiwan allows trademark owners to make minor alterations in how they use a registered trademark. It would, however, be a totally different story if the variation of the registered mark leads to a likelihood of confusion with another registered trademark.

The article “Altering a Registered Trademark—Taiwan Court Clarifies Grounds for Revocation” written by Director George J. H. Huang (Attorney at Law and Patent Attorney) was published as a Feature article in Vol. 76 Issue 19 of INTA Bulletin on 19 May 2021. George is an INTA (International Trademark Association) active member and also a member of the INTA Enforcement Committee. The full article can be read here.

The INTA Bulletin is the International Trademark Association publication, bringing news, trends, and issues of interest to members and the wider intellectual property community worldwide.

In this article, George analyses an important decision rendered by the Taiwan Supreme Administrative Court in 2019, the Kyarra Inspires Incorporated case (Supreme Court 2019 Panzi no. 427 Judgment). The case focuses on whether a trademark should be revoked if a licensee alters a registered trademark. This Supreme Administrative Court case is significant in practice as it raises the judgment standards for trademark revocation and the burden of proof for the revocation applicant.