The trademark “Seediq Bale,” registered by a movie director for a film he made with the same title, will be invalidated as a result of opposition by the Sediq, the nation’s 14th officially recognized Aboriginal tribe, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) said yesterday.
Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖), known for his 2008 hit movie Cape No. 7 (海角七號), which enjoyed the second-biggest box office success in Taiwan’s cinematic history after Titanic, has had his latest film registered with the government as a trademark and subject to promotional tie-ins aimed at advertising the major four-hour production, which cost at least NT$600 million (US$19 million) to make.
The film — an ambitious dramatization of the Wushe Incident, in which a Sediq hero led a rebellion against Japanese military forces in the 1930s during the Japanese colonial period in what is today’s Renai Township (仁愛) in Nantou County — features a 15,000-strong cast and was produced by a 400-member production crew from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
The IPO said it was working on nullifying the Seediq Bale trademark after consultations with the Council for Indigenous Peoples on the issue.
IPO officials said they agreed with council officials that “Seediq Bale” has deep cultural significance for the Sediq and that it represents an important agent for ethic identification and a call for historical awareness.
The office added that another trademark application case for the Seediq Bale name filed by the Farmers’ Association of Sinyi Township (信義) in Nantou County will also be rejected.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉), who represents Aboriginal constituents, said the IPO should review the trademark-granting operations that led it to approve “Seediq Bale” as a trademark in the first place.
Walis Pelin, an Aborigine and former head of the Council for Indigenous Peoples, joined a group of Sediq from Renai Township led by tribal leader Wumin Sabu on Wednesday to protest against Wei’s movie company, as well as the IPO, for the trademark fiasco.
The protesters demanded that Wei apologize to the Sediq and withdraw his trademark registration.
Walis Pelin said he was personally informed by Wei that the director “is willing to yield the trademark title” to show his respect for the Sediq.
The protesters, however, took offense at the term “yield,” arguing that the phrase Seediq Bale — meaning “a real man” in the Sediq language — is a common asset that belongs to all Sediq in the country and not something that anyone outside the tribe has the right to “yield.”
“The word Seediq is not a commercial product. If Wei was culturally inspired rather than just a businessman, he would know how to respect an ethnic group and its name,” Wumin Sabu said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost