The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) issued a clarification regarding the trademark revocation case of comic artist Ao You-xiang's Wulong Yuan and Device (Registration No. 02003530). TIPO stated that the case was filed by a third party under Article 63, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Trademark Act due to non-use for three consecutive years. Following examination, TIPO only revoked registrations for Class 30 tea beverages and Class 43 restaurant services, which lacked evidence of use, while retaining hotel services and emphasizing that no official on-site investigation was conducted.
The public often misinterprets trademark revocation as a total loss of brand rights or assumes that regulatory authorities conduct proactive field investigations. In reality, trademark revocation is determined on an item-by-item basis based on actual usage, and TIPO does not initiate field searches. Crucially, the revocation of a trademark registration does not impair the underlying copyrights of the creative works, which remain fully protected under Copyright Act. For creators and businesses that do not operate in non-core categories like catering, their core content licensing and publishing activities remain completely unaffected by this decision.
Brand owners holding multi-class defensive trademark registrations should audit sales invoices, contracts, or promotional materials generated within the past three years for each registered class. Upon receiving a defense notice from TIPO, rights holders must submit valid evidence of commercial use within the prescribed deadline. For secondary classes with no actual business operations, companies may evaluate adjusting their registration strategies to reduce evidence management burdens.