ABSTRACT
The two decisions reflect the evolution of the attitudes of the Taiwan intellectual property (IP) Court towards the parody defence, showing the progress it has made to take up challenges triggered by the parody defence and set up its legal standards under the Trademark Act. The Taiwan IP Court further pointed out that trademark rights involve the private interests of trademark proprietors and the public interest of consumer protection. According to No. 63 criminal decision provided that it should meet the following two requirements: the parody must possess humour, sarcastic or critical characteristics and present a contradictory message compared to the original trademark and a parody must be balanced against the public interest of avoiding confusion and the public interest of freedom of expression. The IP Court pointed out in the ruling that the design of this trademark at issue is based on the main part of the well-known trademark which is highly distinctive.
