The Trademark Act adopts examination system, which can be classified into examination of application and public examination. Public examination can be classified into opposition, invalidation and revocation, etc. Through public examination, grounds for refusal of registration or revocation in trademark registrations are found, the insufficiency of the examiners in the application period is made up, and the results of examinations are optimized. Consequently, the criteria of public examination are usually stricter than the criteria of examination of application.

Trademark opposition system is for making up the examiner’s insufficiency in application examination period. Opposition is a public examination system designed to review legality de novo. As result, being accepted for registration doesn’t mean that the trademark is never likely to cause confusion with other marks. Therefore, when the Intellectual Property Office examines the statements and evidence that the plaintiff and the intervener presented in the opposition procedure, the application examination’s result of the disputed trademark doesn’t bind Ministry of Economic Affairs Intellectual Property Office.

Opposition, Invalidation, Revocation, Trademark registration, Public examination