Weekly China Trademark News Updates

April 12, 2022

1. P&G’s “Safeguard in Chinese” mark was recognized as a well-known mark

On September 20, 2010, Shijiazhuang Longtai Knitting Products Co., Ltd. (“Longtai”) filed the “Shu Fu Jia in Chinese” trademark (“Disputed Mark”) application that was later allowed for registration in Class 24 for textile towels and bath towels. In 2018, P&G filed an invalidation against the Disputed Mark. After review, the CNIPA found that the Disputed Mark constituted as a copy and imitation of P&G’s “Safeguard in Chinese” trademark and invalidated the Disputed Mark.

Longtai appealed to the Beijing IP Court. The court, in its reasoning, recognized P&G’s “Safeguard in Chinese” trademark as a well-known mark on “soap” goods and affirmed that the Disputed Mark constituted as a copy and imitation of P&G’s “Safeguard in Chinese” trademark. Longtai’s appealed to the Beijing High Court was rejected.

2. China’s famous wine company Changyu successfully fend off an infringer

Yantai Changyu Grape Wine Co., Ltd. (“Changyu”) sued Shandong Aodu Furniture Co., Ltd. (“Aodu”) and Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology Co., Ltd. (“Xunmeng”) over trademark infringement dispute and unfair competition dispute case for unauthorized trademark use as trade name and on red wine gift packaging.

Cited Marks

Disputed Logos

Changyu Group was founded in 1892 and Changyu is a listed company controlled by Changyu Group. Changyu Group registered the Cited Marks in Class 33 for wine and other goods and authorized Changyu to use them. Aodu used the Disputed Logos in its production and sales of red wine gift packaging without authorization. Changyu sued Aodu and the owner of the third-party platform where Aodu sold its gift packaging.

The court held that the Disputed Logos that was printed on the red wine packaging box, which could play a role in identifying the source of goods in commercial activities. The Disputed Logos were identical or similar to Changyu’s Cited Marks and infringed upon Changyu’s Cited Marks. Changyu has obtained relatively high fame in domestic wine industry and received the China Time-Honored Brand through its long term operations. Aodu’s unauthorized use of Changyu’s Cited Marks and trade name amounted to unfair competition.

Changyu did not notify Xunmeng after discovering that Aodu sold alleged infringing goods on the third-party platform. After Changyu sued, Xunmeng took the initiative to review the store involved and removed the accused infringing goods from the shelves. Therefore, Xunmeng did not constitute an accomplice.

3. CNIPA aims to improve its trademark examination department

The 2022 Key Working Points of the Trademark Office was released, which clearly aims to build a first-class trademark examination agency, focus on strengthening the governance of bad faith trademark registration behavior, continuously improve the quality and efficiency of examination, and improve the trademark examination management system and mechanism. Comprehensively deepen the trademark reform and solidly promote the high-quality development of trademark work.

Maintain a high-pressure of cracking down on bad faith trademark squatting and excel in handling bad faith squatting trademarks involving national interests and public interests in a timely manner. Strengthen the management of trademark hoarding, strengthen the registration management of trademark assignment and trademark license recordals, and cut off the profit-making channels of trademark assignment from trademark hoarding. Continue to stabilize the trademark registration process at 7 months in general, and the average trademark examination at 4 months.

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