Because of the special historical background of the cross-strait, we believe many bosses who have registered trademarks in Taiwan and are planning to join the Chinese market will want to ask: When applying for trademarks in the China, can the Taiwan trademark application date be the priority date? What is the basis and precautions?
When applying for a trademark in Mainland China, the date of trademark application in Taiwan can be used as the priority date directly.
According to the provisions of TRIPs related to trade, WTO members can claim priority on the filing date of the Taiwan trademark application based on the principle of reciprocity. However, based on the special historical background of cross-strait, although both sides had joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), they specifically ruled out the application of the relevant WTO regulations on that time. Therefore, the claim of priority for trademark application wasn't appliance for cross-strait originally. It was until the governments of cross-strait signed the "Cross-Strait Agreement on Intellectual Property Right Protection and Cooperation" on September 12, 2010 that they mutually recognized the priority of patents and trademarks (the first filing date). And accepted applications from November 22, 2010.
Gold Keen reminds you to pay attention to the following points when using priority:
1. Pay attention to the time limit when filing trademark priority. According to Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China Article 25: an application for registration of a mark filed by a party that has previously duly filed an application to register the same mark in connection with the same goods in a foreign country shall be accorded priority in accordance with any agreement concluded between the PRC and the foreign country concerned, or with the international treaty to which both countries are parties, or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, provided that the application in China is filed within six months from the date on which the application was first filed in the foreign country.
2. When applying for registration, the country of application, application date and number of the first application must be submitted at the same time. And submit the documents accepted by the country within 3 months. Otherwise, it will be regarded as giving up the priority declaration.
3. Applicants in China may also claim that their application date in China as a priority date. Applicants or enterprises should grasp the priority period of 6 months and ask professional trademark agents to evaluate and apply for trademark.
Cross-Strait Agreement on Intellectual Property Right Protection and Cooperation：http://bit.ly/31rDtRX
Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China：http://bit.ly/3bdZmsE
