When filing the Taiwan trademark registration, Applicants must designate the classes of goods or services in the order of classes, and specifically list the names of the goods or services. Taiwan trademark registration can be filed for one class or multiple classes in a single application. Per Article 19, Paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Regulations of Taiwan Trademark Act, it expressly stipulates that the classification of goods and services is based on the classes published by the Nice Agreement under the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). The Nice Classification (NCL) consists of 45 classes, with Classes 1 to 34 for goods and Classes 35 to 45 for services. Trademark registration filing fees are calculated per class, with additional fees required based on the number of goods/services for some classes.
According to the standard trademark official fees in Taiwan, the basic filing fee for a trademark or collective trademark is NT$3,000 per class, and the total filing fee for each application is calculated based on the number of classes or goods/services. Regarding the additional fees on the number of designated goods/services, if there are more than 20 designated goods/services in the same class for Classes 1 to 34, then an additional fee of NT$200 is charged for each additional item. For services in Classes 35 to 45, an additional fee for service items will be incurred only for Retail Services in Class 35, for which more than 5 service items are designated (an additional NT$500 is charged for each additional service). There are no additional fees for other services in Class 35 (non-specific retail services) or for the services in Classes 36 to 45. Due to the lack of limits for the number of designated services in these classes, Applicants often include many service items when filing trademark registrations, thereby increasing the difficulty of examination. To address this challenge, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has proposed a draft amendment to the trademark filing fees for Classes 35 to 45 this June.
The following are the current Taiwan trademark registration application fees and the proposed fees for amendments.
| Filing Trademark or Collective Trademark | Current Official Filing Fees | Proposed Official Filing Fees |
|---|---|---|
| For designated goods in Classes 1 to 34 | NT$3000 per class; additional fee $200 for each additional item of goods in excess of 20 items | (no amendment) |
| For specific retail service in Class 35 | NT$3000 per class; additional fee NT$500 for each additional item of services in excess of 5 items | (no amendment) |
| For other services in Class 35 | NT$3000 per class; no additional fee for excess items of services | NT$3000 per class; additional fee of NT$200 for each additional item of services more than 20 items |
| For designated services in Classes 36 to 45 | NT$3000 per class; no additional fee for excess items of services | NT$3000 per class; additional fee of NT$200 for each additional item of services more than 20 items |
| Notes: 1) The registration filing fee for group marks or certification marks is NT$5,000 per application. 2) If a trademark registration application is filed electronically, the filing fee will be deducted by NT$300 per application; if all the designated goods or services are the same as the reference name in the TIPO electronic application system, the filing fee will be deducted by NT$300 per class. | ||
According to TIPO statistics, there has been a significant number of trademark applications designating services, and in recent years, applications filed by designating more than 20 services in each class have reached as high as 45%. Since there is a large number of such applications, the volume of trademark searches has increased, requiring more labor and administrative resources for examination. With the above proposed fee adjustment, applicants should also consider their actual business needs and appropriately specify the number of designated services when filing trademark registration in Classes 35 to 45. The TIPO is now soliciting public opinions, and it is expected that the revised fees may be implemented by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
