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COPYING OF NON-TRADEMARKS NOT GROUNDS FOR TRADEMARK OPPOSITION
Article 37 Item 7 of the Trademarks Law pro-vides that a trademark may not be registered if its design is identical with or similar to a well known mark owned by another, such that the public may be confused or may misidentify it. In a case involving an application to register as a trademark the code name "007" of the well known fictional character James Bond, the In-tellectual Property Office (IPO) reversed its previously published decision to grant registra-tion after a third party filed an opposition, stating that Article 37 Item 7 also applies to identifying signs other than trademarks. The applicant of the trademark "007" appealed to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, but the ministry upheld the IPO's view. However, after the applicant brought an administrative suit against these de-cisions, the Taipei High Administrative Court held in 2001 that based on its interpretation of the textual meaning of Article 37 Item 7, the provi-sion applies only to applications to register a trademark of a design identical or similar to a well known mark, and does not cover plagiarism of well known identifying signs other than trademarks.