Anything that serves to “identify” something, whether in the form of words, patterns, graphics, colors, holograms or sounds, could soon be submitted for trademark protection in Taiwan.
A draft amendment of the Trademark Act (商標法) that would expand the categories of items eligible for trademark registration made it through a legislative committee reading yesterday, but has still to pass two more reviews by the full legislature.
Wang Mei-hua (王美花), -director--general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office (IPO), said that if the revised law is passed, animation and holograms that appear on cellphones could also receive trademark protection.
She said the Nokia Corp image that appears when its cellphones are turned on has already been registered as a trademark in several countries and the firm could also apply for protection in Taiwan if the draft bill is passed.
Wang was also asked about the legality of selling counterfeit products on the Internet, which has become confused following different court rulings as to whether selling such products online constitues an act of “displaying and selling.”
According to the draft bill, any digital medium or Internet site that agrees to sell counterfeit products would be engaging in copyright infringement.
However, fines for counterfeiters could be reduced. Currently, conviction for the sale of counterfeit bags is accompanied by a minimum fine of 500 times the bag’s value, which has pushed fines as high as NT$100 million (US$3.48 million) in some cases, which the Intellectual Property Office did not feel was proportionate to the crime, Wang said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS