Intellectual property officials asked to keep `taike' public

Intellectual property officials were urged at a press conference yesterday to revoke the taike (台客) trademark granted to Neuron Innovations (中子創新), organizers of the TK Rock Concert. The attendees voiced concern that the registration would deprive the public of the right to use the term.

The taike trademark became a debated issue when concert promoter Bring Seven in One (七色一味) was forced to change the name of a music party last Saturday in Hualien from "Tai Ke Rock Concert" to "East Coast Rock Concert."

"It's sad that local artists can't use the term taike anymore," Kuo Chi-chou (郭紀舟), executive director of Bring Seven in One, told a press conference hosted by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) at the legislature.

derogatory

Taike, originally a derogatory term used by Chinese who fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949 to describe Taiwanese, was redefined in recent years as an expression of strong national consciousness and Taiwanese cultural elements.

Lin said that taike should be regarded as a kind of "public good" or "cultural good" and no one should be allowed to monopolize the usage of the term.

"Making taike a registered trademark is detrimental to popular culture," Lin said.

She said that members of the public might face an infringement lawsuit if they used the term in symposiums, music competitions, or film festivals or in the names of their published books or magazines, among other things.

Hung Shu-ming (洪淑敏), the head of the trademark division at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), did not think it improper that the bureau had granted Neuron Innovations the trademark.

"The application for taike registration was approved because Neuron Innovations has a leading position in hosting taike Rock concerts in recent years," Hung said.

Lin responded by saying that "first come, first served" was not a good reason for Neuron Innovations to get the trademark, as LTK (濁水溪公社), a local band which released an album titled Revenge of the Taike ten years ago, would have owned the trademark.

Lee Ming-tsung (李明聰), an associate professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, urged the IPO to repeal the taike trademark as it is integral to the popular culture.