Intellectual property officials were urged at a press conference yesterday to revoke the taike (
The taike trademark became a debated issue when concert promoter Bring Seven in One (七色一味) was forced to change the name of a music party last Saturday in Hualien from "Tai Ke Rock Concert" to "East Coast Rock Concert."
"It's sad that local artists can't use the term taike anymore," Kuo Chi-chou (
derogatory
Taike, originally a derogatory term used by Chinese who fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949 to describe Taiwanese, was redefined in recent years as an expression of strong national consciousness and Taiwanese cultural elements.
Lin said that taike should be regarded as a kind of "public good" or "cultural good" and no one should be allowed to monopolize the usage of the term.
"Making taike a registered trademark is detrimental to popular culture," Lin said.
She said that members of the public might face an infringement lawsuit if they used the term in symposiums, music competitions, or film festivals or in the names of their published books or magazines, among other things.
Hung Shu-ming (洪淑敏), the head of the trademark division at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), did not think it improper that the bureau had granted Neuron Innovations the trademark.
"The application for taike registration was approved because Neuron Innovations has a leading position in hosting taike Rock concerts in recent years," Hung said.
Lin responded by saying that "first come, first served" was not a good reason for Neuron Innovations to get the trademark, as LTK (濁水溪公社), a local band which released an album titled Revenge of the Taike ten years ago, would have owned the trademark.
Lee Ming-tsung (
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
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Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by