Weekly China Trademark News Updates

July 5, 2022

1. Infringed the “Yibao in Chinese” trademark and unfairly competed with Yibao Company resulted in a damage of RMB 5.13 million

The plaintiff, China Resources C’estbon Beverage (China) Co., Ltd. (“C’estbon”), is one of the earliest domestic companies specializing in the bottled drinking water production, and its main business is the “Yibao in Chinese C’estbon” brand bottled drinking water. The defendant Jieshibao Company (formerly Yibao Cosmetics Company) was established on May 23, 2013, mainly engaged in cosmetics wholesale and retail.

C’estbon found that the defendant used logos such as “Yibao in Chinese,” “C’estbon,” and “C’estbon Yibao in Chinese” for online publicity, in business premises, participate in exhibitions and other commercial activities, and purchased, registered, and used “cestbon” as part of five domain names constituted as trademark infringement and amounted to unfair competition. C’estbon sued the defendant to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court.

The court found that C’estbon started using the “Yibao in Chinese” mark on beverage related products in 1988, and the “C’estbon” trademark in 1992, and in 2002, it began using the Cited Marks in this case, the “” mark with the reg. no. 1789131 and the “” mark with reg. no. 1794139. Combined with the facts in the case, the court found it was sufficient to determine that the two Cited Marks were well-known to the relevant public in China and constituted as well-known trademarks. Jieshibao Company prominently used the Cited Marks on its official website, WeChat public account, business premises and other channels and claimed to be “Yibao Group,” “Yibao People,” “Yibao Company” and other acts constituted as trademark infringements. Jieshibao Company’s behavior of registering and using the name “Yibao in Chinese,” purchasing, registering and using the domain name involved in the case had the subjective intention of taking advantage of the goodwill of C’estbon’s Cited Marks, which was objectively sufficient to cause confusion among the relevant public and constitute unfair competition. Since it was difficult to determine the actual loss of C’estbon or the defendant’s profit from infringement, the court determined that the defendant should compensate C’estbon’s economic losses of RMB5 million (USD743,900) and reasonable expenses of RMB137,240 (USD20,382).

The defendant appealed the first instance judgement to the Shanghai High Court but was the appeal was rejected and the first instance court’s judgement was affirmed.

2. Chanel’s “COCO” trademark was infringed by a cosmetic company based in Guangzhou

According to a recent administrative penalty decision (Suiyun City Supervision Punishment [2022﹞00403]) published on the Credit China website, Zhenhuan Cosmetics (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. (“Zhenhuan”) was fined for RMB6,000 (USD900) by Administration for Market Regulation of Baiyun District of Guangzhou City for infringing the exclusive right of Chanel’s registered “COCO” mark.

On April 7, 2022, enforcement officers of Administration for Market Regulation of Baiyun District of Guangzhou City inspected the business premises of Zhenhuan and found that: 1. The store held a valid business license and is a cosmetics sales company with a business area of ​​about 150 square meters; 2. On-site inspection revealed 18 bottles of “COCO Scent” fragrance anti-dandruff oil control shampoo and 59 bottles of “COCO Scent” fragrance moisturizing body wash were on sale. According to the sales price, the illegal business turnover of the parties involved totaled RMB2,378 (USD353).

CHANEL registered the “COCO” mark in Class 3 with reg. no. 150743.

Administration for Market Regulation of Baiyun District of Guangzhou City found that the said behavior of the parties constituted as trademark infringement according to Article 57(3) of the China Trademark Law, which states that “selling goods which infringe upon the right to exclusively use a registered trademark.” Zhenhuan was punished as follows: 1. Immediately stop the trademark infringement; 2. Confiscate and destroy 18 bottles of the fragrance anti-dandruff oil-control shampoo and 59 bottles of the fragrance moisturizing nourishing body wash that infringed the exclusive right of the “COCO” mark; 3. A fine of RMB6,000 (USD900).

3. The Regulations of Beijing Intellectual Property Rights Protection shall come into force on July 1, 2022

On March 31, 2022, the 38th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 15th Municipal People’s Congress passed the “Regulations of Beijing Intellectual Property Rights Protection,” which has come into force on July 1, 2022.

The Regulations focus on the prominent issues that restricted the high-quality development of intellectual property rights in the capital, and includes provisions on administrative protection, judicial protection, social co-governance, public services, and diverse dispute mediations. The formulation of the Regulations is an important measure for the city to implement the spirit of the important instructions on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, strengthen the protection of the entire chain of intellectual property rights, build a demonstration city for a country with strong intellectual property rights, and create an area with the best intellectual property rights. The development pattern and the promotion of high-quality development of the capital provide a strong legal protection guarantee.

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