In December, 2012, a Shenzhen Court rendered a decision favorable to a leading multinational company (the “Company” hereinafter) as the defendant represented by Beijing East IP Law Firm, staying a trademark infringement lawsuit initiated by a Chinese individual as the plaintiff.

In that case, the plaintiff filed the trademark application in China a few days before the Company advertised and exhibited its newly branded product on a famous international show. Before the registration of the trademark by the plaintiff, such new brand has been used and promoted by the Company for two years.

In the lawsuit, the Company has put forward various defenses including prior use defense according to Judicial Opinions of China Supreme Court as well as good faith principle prescribed by Chinese laws. In addition, the Company has requested the court to stay the trademark infringement lawsuit according to Article 136 of Civil Procedure Law of China, based on the fact that a dispute cancellation has been filed against the plaintiff’s trademark registration. The Shenzhen Court accepted and supported the Company’s defense and ruled to stay the infringement lawsuit.

Before this trademark infringement lawsuit, the Company got involved in one of the earliest patent troll cases in China, lasting from 2002 to 2008. Represented by Beijing East IP Ltd., the Company had successfully fended off the patent troll in the high-profile patent infringement case, and had successfully invalidated the patent troll’s patent in both of the two rounds of court appeals.