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TRANSLATIONS OF FAMOUS PERSONAL AND STAGE NAMES MAY BE USED AS TRADE-MARKS
Article 23 Paragraph 1 Subparagraph 15 of the Trademark Act provides that a trademark may not be registered if it includes the portrait or wellknown name, stage name, pen name, or alias of another person. However, views have been sharply divided in practice as to whether the protection of such names extends to their translations.
In a 2007 judgment, the Taipei High Administrative Court took the negative view, holding that translations of personal names or stage names do not fall within the scope of such protection. The court stated that "stage name" means a form of address other than one's personal name, used by an artist in place of his personal name. In the case concerned, the court held that "Alain Delon" was the personal name of the internationally famous French film star, and thus was indeed a name protected under Article 23 Paragraph 1 Subparagraph 15 of the Trademark Act; however, the Chinese translation "亞蘭德倫" (ya lan de lun) was not Mr. Delon's name, and unless it could be shown that it was his stage name, and protectable as such, it did not fall within the scope protected by the above provision.