Aim on how Trademark Law impacted Taiwan market in Japanese ruled period, the research is focused on business activities in Taiwan comparing to the trends of trademark registration after the Trademark Law was implemented after July 1st, 1899.
The first step is to clarify how a trademark functioned in a trade and how people recognized a trademark and how government managed trademarks in Qing Dynasty ruled period and then based on the understanding to see how Taiwanese merchants took actions on Trademark Law brought by Japanese government after 1895 and how Patent Office of Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of the Empire of Japan and Government of Taiwan were forced by pouchong tea trademark registration controversy to investigate in conventional recognition on trademarks among Taiwanese merchants.
According to trademark registration records in early decades of Japanese ruled period, Taiwanese local merchants and Japanese merchants and Japanese companies had variable responses to Trademark Law. Taiwanese tea and tobacco merchants from Taipei and Tainan cities took the lead and followed by incense and farm implement merchants from mid-Taiwan cities and then medicinal material merchants kept up for trademark registration that pushed the Trademark Law amendments on November 1st, 1909; those merchants not only brought the goods with trademarks from Qing Dynasty to Japanese ruled period in daily life but also had done the documentation in both government systems. Japanese merchants from Empire of Japan registered a trademark in Taiwan for Taiwan local commodities or for establishing factories or as a selling agent. Initially Japanese companies were invited by Government of Taiwan to establish sugar companies in Taiwan, as its profits grew substantially after Russo-Japanese War, sugar trademarks became important objects in trademark registration in Taiwan.
In a variety of ways, the total number and category of trademark registration in Taiwan had a great improvement since Taisho Democracy started in 1912. First, the population growth in Taiwan and more Taiwanese chose to live a Japanese lifestyle. Secondly, more and more goods were made in Taiwan to meet the demand growth from Japan. At the same time more educated merchants who owned small businesses or based on remote villages got the knowledge of how to apply for a trademark, which help expand categories of goods and impacted regions. Until WWI, Empire of Japan took the markets originally covered by European merchants; Taiwan as a part of the empire got the chance to manufacture and export globally more kinds of goods with registered trademarks, even including sake which was made in Japan but replaced by those made in Taiwan.
Trademark registration in Taiwan was mainly focused on exported goods after WWI and then was overpassed by domestic demands on foods and daily necessities before Trademark Law amendment on April 29, 1921. During the period, most of tea and other export-oriented goods merchants had done trademark registration; on the other hand, plenty of Taiwanese companies were founded and registered trademarks for producing foods and daily necessities for domestic demand or even for overseas orders.
Trademark Law had protected Taiwanese and Japanese merchants and companies to ensure their rights on their registered trademarks in domestic and international trading and had limited the unfair competition to reduce the cost, so merchants became richer than ever. Along with Trademark Law implement and amendments in Taiwan, the trademark registration not only recorded details and trends of local and international business activities which were impacted by every important decision from respecting nations and brought chances and changes for Taiwanese society, but also presented the interactions of people and national act implement during 1899 and 1921.