SAINT ISLAND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GROUP

To reflect the increased costs of processing trademark applications, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office has announced new filing fees for trademark applications filed on or after February 1, 2011. 

According to the current fee schedule, the official fee for trademark applications filed in Classes 35 to 45 is fixed at NT$3,000 per class, whereas the official fee for trademark applications filed in Classes 1 to 34 is subject to the following ascending rates: 

According to the new fee schedule, the official fee for trademark applications filed in Classes 1 to 34 is NT$3,000 per class if the number of designated goods is not more than twenty (20), and a surcharge of NT$200 will be incurred for each additional item in excess of twenty (20).

For trademark applications filed in Classes 36 to 45, the official fee remains unchanged, i.e., NT$3,000 per class.

For trademark applications filed in Class 35, the official fee also remains unchanged, i.e. NT$3,000. However, if the designated services include retailing of commodities, and if the number of the retailed commodities exceeds five, a surcharge of NT$500 will be incurred for each additional retailed commodity in excess of five. For example, the official fee for a Class 35 application designating “retail of cosmetics, lipsticks, powder foundation, eye-shadow, and mascara” is NT$3000, but the official fee for a Class 35 application designating “retail of cosmetics, lipsticks, powder foundation, eye-shadow, mascara, and face cream” is NT$3500.

In view of the above, the applicant may consider using a more generic term to refer to the retailed commodities of concern. For example, it is more advisable to recite “retail of pharmaceuticals” and “retail of cosmetics” instead of reciting the specific retailed pharmaceutical products or cosmetic items. This not only affords a more comprehensive scope of protection, filing fee savings can also be achieved.