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PURCHASE OF INFRINGING GOODS FOR RESALE VIOLATES TRADEMARK ACT
Article 82 of the Trademark Act penalizes trad-ing in goods that infringe upon another's trade-mark with penalties up to one year's imprison-ment. But if the infringing goods are seized be-fore they are sold, in past practice the courts have generally taken the view that trading has only been attempted, but not completed, so that no offense has been committed.
However, in a 2005 summary criminal judgment, citing two past Supreme Court judgments in cases brought under the Drugs and Pharmacists Management Act (now superceded by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act), the Taichung Dis-trict Court held that for an act of trading as re-ferred to in the Trademark Act to take place it is not a necessary condition that goods are first bought in and then sold out; it is necessary only that goods have been either purchased or sold for the purpose of making a profit.
It remains to be seen whether the above judg-ment will affect the determination of whether a criminal offense has taken place in other intel-lectual property rights infringement cases other than trademark cases.