Linda Liu & Partners is awarded as” Excellent Trademark Agency of 2017” with the case being listed as “Excellent Trademark Litigation cases of 2017”

2017 China International Trademark Festival was concluded with success on September 4th in Guilin, Guangxi Province, sponsored by China Trademark Association (CTA). Themed with “protecting trademark brands, sharing innovative development”, 2017 China International Trademark Festival consist of Chinese brands expo and a series of theme activities like “travelling the globe, fond of Guangxi”, attended by 500 Chinese trademark brands and 270 Guangxi brands in total, making it a spectacular event. Linda Liu & Partners (hereinafter referred to as “our firm”) is also invited to attend the event.

 

In the evening of the opening ceremony of the festival, the awarding ceremony of 2017 China International trademark brand was also held by the committee, releasing the widely anticipated awards of “Excellent Trademark Agency of 2017”, “Excellent Trademark Litigation cases of 2017 ”and so on. In the awarding ceremony, our firm stands out and is awarded as “Excellent Trademark Agency of 2017”. At the same time, the trademark invalidation case of “松下SONGXIA & device” handled by our firm is awarded the “Excellent Trademark Litigation cases of 2017 ”.

 

Case Brief:

 “松下”（the Chinese translation of Panasonic）, “Panasonic ”is the prior registered well-known trademarks held by Panasonic Corporation, the world renowned electric appliance company, which enjoys high reputation in electric appliance products and whose Chinese translation has established the exclusive correspondence with its English trademark “Panasonic”. Panasonic Corporation successively filed trademark opposition and invalidation against the trademark of “松下SONGXIA & device” with the designated goods “infant food, disinfector” under Class 5. The Trademark Appeal Board examined the case and held that the disputed trademark improperly used the market reputation of the well-known trademark held by the applicant and impaired the distinctiveness of the well-known trademark, which may result in the damage of the applicant’s interests. Therefore, it ruled that the disputed trademark No. 11227867 was announced invalid on the ground of its violation against the Article 13 (2) of China Trademark Law before the amendment.

Typical significance: this is a typical case where the disputed trademark is announced invalid based on Article 13 of China Trademark Law under the ground that the prior cited mark constituted a well-known trademark and the disputed mark was filed out of clear bad faith In recent years, the respondent registered more than 50 “松下” serial trademarks in several classes by reproducing and imitating the cited mark in bad faith, and it also copied and imitated other famous trademarks. The applicants successively filed trademark oppositions, invalidation against dozens of the trademarks under the respondent and had successfully protected its interests. This success of this case is an important reference for the following trademark oppositions and invalidation cases, which will effectively prevent free-riding the reputation of others’ famous brands and massively preemptively registering other’s trademarks with bad faith. It also serves as a warning to trademark squatters who preemptively register others’ famous trademarks massively.

 

During the past 14 years, Linda Liu & Partners has always been detail-oriented and committed to providing high quality services, which has obtained a high reputation in IP field. We will keep on trying our best to provide high quality trademark services for clients in the future.