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In recent years, in order to allow applicants who file for trademark registration to obtain the approval sooner, TIPO has expedited the speed for examination. The average month to send out the first notification for trademark registration is 6.35 months last year. In order to meet the demands of the enterprises, TIPO will try to reduce the average time to 6 months this year.
The number of prior art registrations stored in TIPO’s trademark database has increased to 1.6 millions recently. Additionally, the number of other relevant data to be searched is around 400 thousands. Therefore, the total number of data to be searched is around 2 millions, putting a lot of pressure on the examiners. In addition to determining the prior art one by one in trademark examination, the examiners also need to determine whether a trademark is a relevant description of a common usage, product or service as well as the function of new products to prevent unfair completion in the industry. The complexity of trademark examination has certainly increased due to the rapid and diverse business activities.
To reduce the waiting time for the trademark to be registered, TIPO has set the time to send out the first notification for a trademark registration to be within 6 months. The notification can be about approval of the registration, supplemental information required, or rejection as well as a chance to provide further explanation. The applicant can plan on product marketing once an approval of the registration is received. On the other hand, if the notification requires supplemental information or rejects the registration, the applicant should determine whether to proceed further with trademark registration, discuss with relevant suppliers, or create a new brand to facilitate subsequent product development and operation.