Brief introduction to the case
Guangdong Strong food Group Co. ,Ltd(hereinafter referred to as "Strong food Group") was established in 1993, producing and selling four series of products: jelly pudding, seaweed, milk tea and confectionery It has been developed to be the largest professional manufacturer and seller of jelly pudding of the world, as well as the largest manufacturer and seller of instant seaweed and milk tea in China. As the leader of China's food industry,“ Strong food Group”'s trademarks “喜之郎”、“优乐美”and“美好时光”have been recognized as “Well-known Trademarks”.
On June 9, 2015, the natural person “Wu Huasheng” applied for registration of trademark No. 17162591 "
" (hereinafter referred to as the "opposed trademark") under the Class 11 with the items of "overhead lights, germicidal lamps for air purification" and granted for publication in the following several months. We(STS) represented Strong food Group filed the opposition against the opposed mark during the publication period.
The main article of law we choosed in this case is Article 13 , which is “The holder of a trademark well known by the relevant public may file a request for well-known trademark protection under this Law if believing that there is any infringement upon its rights. Where a trademark in respect of which the application for registration is filed FDR use for nonidentical or dissimilar goods is a reproduction, imitation or translation of the well-known mark of another person that has been registered in China, misleads the public and is likely to create prejudice to the interests of the well-known mark registrant, it shall be rejected for registration and prohibited from use.) In our opinion, the opposed trademark “
” is a copy of the “Well-known Trademarks” "U.Loveit" of Strong food Group.
After examination, the examiner agreed with our opinion that the trademark "
" which was registered by Strong food Group, have been used for a long time on goods including "milk tea". This trademark enjoyed good reputation in China, and also had been recognized as a “Well-known Trademarks” among the relevant public,and at this time, it should be protected as “Well-known Trademarks”. Concerning the Chinese part of the opposed trademark“
” was identical to the Chinese part of the “Well-known Trademarks”"
", which likely to be confused by the customer .So, on December 6, 2017, the Trademark Office made a decision to object the opposed trademark.
STS’s OPINION
In this case, we maily adopt the provisions of Article 13, Paragraph 3 of the Trademark Law, which is “ (The holder of a trademark well known by the relevant public may file a request for well-known trademark protection under this Law if believing that there is any infringement upon its rights. Where a trademark in respect of which the application for registration is filed FDR use for nonidentical or dissimilar goods is a reproduction, imitation or translation of the well-known mark of another person that has been registered in China, misleads the public and is likely to create prejudice to the interests of the well-known mark registrant, it shall be rejected for registration and prohibited from use) “to support our arguments
We prepared a lot of useful evidence to prove the reputation of trademark "”and argued the exist of trademark“”should confuse the customer and take the demage to the the trademark owner Strong food Group.
Finally, the examiner supported our point of view. the trademark "”was recognized as a “Well-known Trademarks” once again, and the opposed trademark “” was rejected successfully.
