Business People from Taiwan May Travel to the Mainland to Register Trademarks
To avoid trademark difficulties that have arisen due to investment and trade across the Taiwan Strait, the government has agreed that business people from Taiwan may travel to mainland China to apply for patents and register trademarks there. As for the registration of mainland trademarks and patents on Taiwan, methods will be legislated once policies on economics and trade across the strait have been drawn up and a law on relations between the two sides has been passed.
With economic and trade relations between the two sides growing ever closer, a number of makers of foodstuffs and cosmetics on Taiwan have found that business operators on the mainland have jumped in first and registered their patents and trademarks there and then demanded that the makers pay out large sums of money to buy back the rights.
Because mainland China has joined the Convention of Paris, R.O.C. businesses wishing to buy back trademarks that have been registered by persons on the mainland must frequently pay large amounts of time and money so as to prove that their trademarks are world-recognized brands. In view of the firms' difficulties, the director of the National Bureau of Standards in the Ministry of Economic Affairs stated in an interpellation before the Legislative Yuan that the government has agreed under the present political and legal framework that business persons may travel to the mainland to register trademarks and patents there. decided to permit persons from the business sector to travel to the mainland for business-related inspections or to take part in trade shows of an international nature or held by a third area or country. The visits are not limited in number or duration.
The government has also permitted the indirect importation of antiques (collectors' items, artwork or religious artifacts more than 100 years old) via a third area after review and approval by the Board of Foreign Trade. Samples for research purposes and animals for zoos or academic research organizations may also be imported under the above method.
Copy of Household Registration Papers No Longer Needed for Hong Kong Visas
The Hong Kong Immigration Service has announced that, effective immediately, it is canceling its requirement that travelers from Taiwan submit a copy of their household registration papers in applying for entry visas to Hong Kong. It is estimated that the move will reduce the number of applications for copies of household registration papers in Taiwan each year by at least 800,000.
Now that the Immigration Service canceled the requirement, travelers from Taiwan need only submit a copy of their citizen identification card, a photocopy of their exit permit and three 2" photographs to apply for a Hong Kong visa.
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