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OPPOSITION ON GROUNDS OF TRADEMARK SIMILARITY NOT LIMITED TO SIMILAR GOODS
A trademark may not be registered if its design is identical with or similar to a well-known trade-mark owned by another such that the public may be confused or may misidentify it. This is pro-vided by Trademark Law Article 37, Item 7, and is also grounds for opposing the registration of a trademark or for seeking the revocation of an existing registration. But the law is not explicit as to whether a well-known mark in such case must be registered in the ROC, or as to whether the restriction only applies to goods identical with or similar to those on which the well-known mark is used. As a result, these questions are disputable in practice. In a 2000 judgment in an administrative suit against a trademark opposi-tion decision, the Taipei High Administrative Court, taking into account the legislative history of the Trademark Law, ruled that a well-known mark as referred to in Article 37 Item 7 need not be registered in the ROC, and need not be used on goods of the same or a similar type to those designated in the rejected application.