FAQ on Intellectual Property

A trademark differentiating a commodity or service from the others. It may comprise of words, graphics, letters, figures, colors or 3D symbols, or a combination of any of the aforesaid elements.

A registered trademark is exclusive nature in a sense that the trademark holder is protected by law and has the exclusive rights to use the trademark. A trademark is likewise considered an intangible asset, the value of which can be determined by assessment. Hence, a trademark holder will be entitled to profits for transferring or licensing the use of his/her trademark rights.

The following marks cannot be registered:

• Marks identical or similar to the name, national flag, national emblem, army flag, and medal of a country, as well as marks identical to the name of a particular place where state organs locate or the name and graph of landmark buildings
• Marks identical or similar to the name, flag and emblem of an international organization
• Marks identical or similar to the official mark and hallmark indicating the implementation of control and security, other than those authorized
• Marks of racial discrimination
• Marks of high sounding publicity and fraud
• Marks coherent to the generic name, graph and type of the product, such as computer, pen, portfolio
• Marks directly indicating the quality, major raw materials, function, purpose, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the product
• Marks identical or similar to name or sign of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Before filing an application for trademark registration, the following matters shall be considered:

- Whether the trademark distinguishes the applicant’s goods or services from the other traders’
- Whether the trademark shows the distinctiveness of the goods and services
- Whether the trademark is a generic term in that industry
- Whether the trademark is identical or similar to other trademarks

Nice Classification (the “NCL”) is an international classification system to classify goods and services for the purposes of trademark registration.

Yes. An applicant for trademark registration can either be a corporation or an individual.

It varies with each country and region. Generally, the applicant’s identity documents, an accomplished application form, and trademark image are required.

It varies with each country and region (e.g. 4 to 8 months in Hong Kong and 12 to 18 months in China). In general, it takes 4 to 24 months to complete the process of trademark registration.

A registered trademark has a validity period of 10 years in most countries and regions, except for a few, such as Canada (15 years) and Macau (7 years).

Yes. Generally, the validity period of a renewed trademark is 10 years.

An applicant may enjoy the right of priority on trademark registration for certain goods or service with a state party to Paris Convention or a WTO member state for six months after the first application submission. In this connection, an applicant may exercise such right of priority to file the same application in another country within six months after his/her first application such that the application date of the second application may be dated back to that of the first application.

The adopted principles vary with each country and region. Currently, there are three (3) principles adopted internationally, namely, prior use, prior application, and both of the aforementioned.

Trademark is part of the packaging and presentation of a commodity; both of them are used in the packaging of a commodity. While the purpose of a trademark is to differentiate the producers or operator of commodity from another, the purpose of packaging and presentation is to beautify a commodity. A registered trademark cannot be altered, but the design style of the packaging and presentation can be altered at any time.

Yes. It requires an application form (to be filed with the proper registry or authority) and a trademark assignment contract signed by both the assignor and the assignee.