January 22, 2025 Copyright ©️ 2025 by goldkeen International Patent & Trademark Joint Office

 

Once you’ve decided to franchise your brand, now is the best time to file your trademark.

Let me tell you a story—
in the style of Haruki Murakami—based on court case 2021 Civil Judgment No. 3658.

This story takes place in a city without a name.

I was just an ordinary person.
I ran a small hair salon with my friend, Yang O-Yi.

Then one day, we met someone named Chen O-Min.

Chen was the kind of person who spoke in clear visions. He saw something in our salon that we hadn’t seen—potential.
He told us we should expand, and so, we did. The three of us became partners and opened a new salon.

We named it ZOSS.

The logo? Designed by Chen.
It was sleek, modern, maybe even a little enigmatic.
ZOSS opened, and business took off. Money came in, smiles widened, and all three of us flourished.
But success has a way of revealing the cracks that were always there.

One day, without telling us, Chen filed for the ZOSS trademark—under his own name.
Yang and I were furious.
We believed that ZOSS—its name, its symbol—was shared property. It should belong to all three of us.
So we took Chen to court.

 

The Verdict

Chen won.
Yang and I lost.

It was a bitter moment. Not just the loss in court, but the loss of something intangible—trust, maybe.
Still, we didn’t give up.
We told ourselves: Let’s keep going.
Let’s make ZOSS better, even if the story didn’t turn out the way we thought it would.

 

Back in the real world,
ZOSS Salon now has branches in seven cities across Taiwan.
Seven locations in Taipei City alone.
The current trademark owner is a company—and the original partners with surnames Huang and Yang are nowhere to be seen.

According to the court ruling:
Founder Chen O-Min had already created the “ZOSS – Ammonia-Free Salon, Zhongxiao Branch” Facebook page as early as 2012.
The other investors didn’t join until February 18, 2014, entering business agreements to co-manage several ZOSS salons.

It wasn’t until 2019 that Chen filed the trademark with the Intellectual Property Office.
Huang and Yang submitted a third-party opinion letter in protest.

In the end, the Intellectual Property Office approved Chen’s response and granted the registration.

 

The law does not protect those who sleep on their rights.

As a brand founder, you should be the first to register your trademark.
It’s not just about brand identity—it’s your commitment to your customers.

When someone damages your brand, dilutes your reputation, or confuses consumers,
only the person with a valid trademark certificate has the legal right to take action.

 

Does your franchise agreement need review?
Have you filed your trademark yet?

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