經通國際智慧產權事務所

Miss Wang, a forty-four-year-old woman who runs a clothing store, was accused of trademark infringement as the brand name “momo co” (meaning “a peach” in Chinese) is indicated on her shop sign and store bags. However, the judge of Taipei District Court considers the “momo co” different from the prior registered trademark and service mark “momoco” as the latter has no space in between its letters. Also, since the clothes from her store do not have any tags marked with “momo co” on them, the examiner maintains that the woman is innocent.

Since the brand name momoco is famous among Taiwanese consumers and the distributor of momoco has already obtained the exclusive rights for using the trademark and service mark “momoco” in October 2002 and January 2003, the issue concerning the trademark infringement of “momoco” has been paid great attention by the public.

The summary judgment of Taipei District Court indicates that even though the “momo co” indicated on Miss Wang’s shop sign, shop bags and her business cards has a space in between “momo” and “co”, it is still likely that the brand name will cause confusion to the general consumers as when people see the brand name “momo co”, they would assume that “momo co” and “momoco” come from the same source.

However, the examiner indicates that Miss Wang started her business in Taipei County in 2002 having “MOMO.CO” as her store name and it was changed to “momo co” after she moved her store to Taipei City. Obviously, Miss Wang only intends to use “momo co” as her store name rather than a trademark and she has not sold any clothes bearing the mark “momo co”. Besides, since no evidence indicating that Miss Wang was trying to use others’ trademarks in bad faith was found, the court announce Miss Wang is innocent and an appeal still can be filed for this case.

(from Central News Agency 2007/05/14)

translated by Michelle Lo

International Affairs