The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, also called TIPO, is the government organization in charge of reviewing and registering trademarks, patents, copyright, IC layout and trade secrets in Taiwan. The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office is a part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and was created in 1999.
In December 2016, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office employed a total of 960 people. Of these employees 107 people or 11% worked in the trademark division.
Their job is not an easy one since they need to review so many applications for so many different kinds of trademarks. Trademarks can be words, sounds, holograms, movements, scents, figures, shapes, colors, sounds or combinations of these. Just imagine trying to determine if a scent is distinctive enough to warrant a legal trademark protection. They must have some great noses!
TIPO also create educational materials to promote a stronger awareness of IP protection in Taiwan. Publications, ads in newspapers, TV, radio and online
In our international business world, where brands are global, you can’t work with IP rights only on a local scale. The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office knows this and has extensive interactions with their counterparts in other countries.
Taiwan Intellectual Property Office Website Services
Their website has a lot of functions that are very useful to anyone interested in Trademarks in Taiwan.
The most obvious one is the trademark search function. Any time you create a new company or product name you should always come back to this function. Here you can see if anyone else have registered anything same or similar. Learn more about how to use their trademark search function in our blog article.
There is also a list of Trademark Agents. Of course we hope you will choose to work with MUSA but if you would like to find other companies, that is a useful function.
All the latest laws and regulations will be updated on their website.
Check it out: https://www.tipo.gov.tw
TIPO Contact Information
As a trademark agent, MUSA Trademark of course have to deal with TIPO nearly daily.
Their office hours: 9:00~12:00, 13:30~17:30
Address: 185 Hsinhai Rd., Sec. 2, 3F; Taipei 10637, Taiwan
Telephone: +886 2-2738-0007
Fax : （+886）2-2377-9875