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To bring the Enforcement Rules into line with the amendments to the Trademark Law which was amended in 1997 and came into force on 1 November 1998, amendments on the rules were announced by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and came into force on 15 September 1999. Apart from making necessary changes in line with the amended law, the main thrust of the amendments is to make explicit certain procedures which had already been implemented in practice. A total of 11 articles were amended. The main points are outlined below:
Inability to serve documents, as referred to in the law, means inability to serve them on the recipient at the address registered with the trademark authority. The former requirement for further inquiries to be made to household, company or business name registration authorities as to the recipient's whereabouts, was deleted (amended Article 9).
The former provision of Article 18 of the rules, defining the ordinary manner of use of a trademark as referred to in the old Article 23 of the law, was deleted, since this definition has now been incorporated into the amended law.
The rules now explicitly stipulate that the evidence of use which must be provided when applying to renew registration of a trademark can be furnished by means of a declaration of the facts relevant to the use of the trademark to be renewed (amended Article 19 Paragraph 1 Subparagraph 4).
It is now explicitly stipulated that the scope and duration of a license to use a trademark should not exceed the scope or duration of the right of exclusive use granted by the registration of the trademark. If the agreed license period extends beyond the period of registration, the license expires on the day the registration expires. If registration is renewed, recordation of a license must be applied for separately. The scope and duration of a sublicense must not exceed those of the original license. It is also explicitly provided that an application to record a sublicense must be accompanied by a photocopy of the sublicensing agreement (amended Article 20).
It is explicitly provided that the life of a pledge over a trademark is limited to the duration of the trademark registration. Where the agreed duration of the pledge extends beyond the period of registration, the pledge expires on the day the registration expires. If registration is renewed, recordation of a pledge must be applied for separately (amended Article 23 Paragraph 3).
It is explicitly provided that an application to record the extinguishment of a pledge should be accompanied by the certificate of trademark registration and by evidence that the obligation has been discharged, or documentary evidence of the pledgee's consent to the record of the pledge being struck out (amended Article 23 Paragraph 4).
A new provision is added stating that a well-known trademark or symbol as referred to in the amended law means a trademark in respect of which sufficient objective evidence exists to show that it is generally known to relevant enterprises or to consumers (amended Article 31 Paragraph 1).
