BKIP Limited

COPYRIGHT BKIP 2020
Recovering Taiwanese trademark rights Jul 2020
It is essential to maintain trademark rights after obtaining them. However, due to negligence or forgetfulness caused by busy work, you might encounter the losing of those trademark rights. Nevertheless, in certain situations, you can recover your trademark rights through a “reinstatement”. The following are some common cases:
1. Overdue registration fees after being approved：After a Taiwanese trademark has been approved, a registration fee must be paid within 2 months of receiving the official document. If the fee is not paid, the said trademark right will be lost and the preparatory work will have gone to waste. However, do not panic if you have exceeded the 2-month limit. According to official regulations, those who are late in paying the fees can recover its trademark rights by paying double the registration fee within 6 months of its expiration. This usually occurs when the applicant makes the application themselves. As the Intellectual Property Office will not send reminders for every single case, you can confirm with the Intellectual Property Office Committee whether the trademark is still within the 6-month time limit when you realise there are overdue fees. If so, you can obtain a trademark certificate as soon as you pay the fees.
2. Extending the expiry date for paying extension fees: The duration of a trademark is 10 years per term. 6 months prior to the expiration, an extension can be proposed earlier and the official fees can be paid. This is one of the measures implemented by the Intellectual Property Office for the convenience of trademark rights owners. As things may change in the 10 years after obtaining the trademark rights, for example changes regarding the person in charge of the rights owner’s company, unclear handover etc. At this point, the extension fees can be paid earlier, thus preventing the loss of a 10-year trademark right due to carelessness.
If you still haven’t paid the relevant extension fees after the trademark duration ends, according to the rules, you can also apply for an extension in the 6 months after the expiration. However, the fees will be twice that of the original extension fees. As mentioned before, as long as the 6-month deadline has not been exceeded, you can recover your trademark rights by paying extra fees.
In summary, trademark rights are of high importance and they must be managed properly to prevent the above unfortunate situations from happening. These days, trademark owners will often seek professional trademark agents to manage their trademarks. This is to prevent themselves from having to pay attention to the expiration of their trademarks while they are focusing on their business. As one of the responsibilities of a trademark agent is case management, the agent will still remind you to pay the fees within the deadline even if the trademark owner did not receive any official reminders. This can avoid having to apply for the restoration of rights and the loss of trademark rights due to negligence.
Due to the modern need to multitask, trademark agents can help reduce your burden and with years of experience, they ensure that your trademark rights will not be affected. In view of this, if you have the urgent need for your case to be managed, you can opt for a professional agent to accomplish that. Not only will this save you time, but this will also reduce unnecessary costs. If you have more enquiries regarding the recovery of trademark rights, please feel free to reach out, we will humbly be at your service.