The Intellectual Property Court yesterday ordered AMC Language School to pay TutorABC NT$3 million (US$97,072) in damages for trademark infringement in the second round of a lawsuit between the English-language schools.
In the first ruling earlier this year, the court also ruled in favor of TutorABC and ordered AMC and other firms to pay damages totaling NT$15 million and publish a half-page apology in the nation’s major newspapers.
AMC founder Peter Hsu (胥宏達) appealed that ruling, saying that “tutor” and “ABC” are generic terms in common use, citing other nations, such as China, that do not allow the word “tutor” to be trademarked.
TutorABC in 2012 sued more than 10 English-language schools and online teaching services claiming trademark infringement on the commercial use of “tutor” and “ABC.”
The company said it had trademarked the name “TutorABC” in 2007 with the Intellectual Property Office.
“TutorABC” has become a “well-known trademark,” it said, calling the use of similar terms such as “tutor” and “ABC” by other companies commercial theft, resulting in customer confusion and financial damages in contravention of the Trademark Act (商標法) and Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
Among those named in the lawsuit were AMC with its Tutor4U trademark and www.tutor4u.com.tw Web site; Wells English with its TutorWell name and www.tutorwell.com.tw site; and Dr MVP with its TutorMVP service.
Also named were Jeda Language Institute with its eTutor service, Edison Technology with its HiTutor brand and other companies that use “tutor” or “ABC” for English-language education services.
Hsu said that he in 2006 had trademarked “Tutor Bank” before TutorABC’s registration in 2007, and therefore it was TutorABC that infringed on AMC’s trademark.
Hsu disagreed with both rulings on the grounds that common words cannot be trademarked, citing as an example the fact that the phrase “convenience store” is used commercially by all the leading convenience store chains in Taiwan.
Last month, Hsu and 15 other companies said that TutorABC’s actions “disrupt fair trade” and attempt to monopolize the online English-teaching market, and urged the Fair Trade Commission to intervene.
Hsu also said that Alibaba Group is a main shareholder of TutorABC, and that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has determined that it is a Chinese-funded company — a claim that TutorABC rejects.
Commission Chairwoman Huang Mei-ying (黃美瑛) at that time said that she believed the case to be contentious, as she considers “tutor” to be a common word.
Yesterday’s ruling can still be appealed.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
The Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) has made a three-phased compulsory evacuation plan for Hualien County’s Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) disaster zone ahead of the potential formation of a typhoon. The plan includes mandatory vertical evacuation using air-raid-style alarms if needed, CEOC chief coordinator Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) told a news conference in the county yesterday. Volunteers would be prohibited from entering the disaster area starting tomorrow, the retired general said. The first phase would be relocating vulnerable residents, including elderly people, disabled people, pregnant women and dialysis patients, in shelters and hospitals, he said. The second phase would be mandatory evacuation of residents living in
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
RSS