Beijing, May 5 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Song Yusheng) The reporter learned that recently, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court concluded an administrative dispute case in which an application for the trademark "Konjac Shuang" was rejected for review.
According to reports, Luohe Weilong Trading Co., Ltd. applied for registration of the No. 2019 "Konjac Shuang" (hereinafter referred to as the disputed trademark) trademark on December 12, 18, and the State Intellectual Property Office rejected the application for registration of the disputed trademark on the grounds that the trademark violated the provisions of Article 43138475, paragraph <> (<>) of the Trademark Law.
Screenshot of China Trademark Network
Weilong Company was not satisfied and sued the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, claiming that the distinctiveness of the disputed trademark was a fact determined by the effective judgment; The combination of the disputed trademark "Konjac + Shuang" falls under the circumstances of Chapter 2021, Paragraph 3.2.2, paragraph <> of Part <> of the Guidelines for Trademark Examination and Adjudication <>, and is inherently distinctive; the disputed trademark is used on products with huge sales volumes, and has distinctive characteristics that distinguish the source of goods.
Weilong Company requested the court to revoke the decision and order the State Intellectual Property Office to make a new decision.
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court pointed out that Article 11.1.2 of the Trademark Law stipulates: "A sign that only directly indicates the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the goods shall not be registered as a trademark." "Where the signs listed in the preceding paragraph have acquired distinctive characteristics through use and are easily identifiable, they may be registered as trademarks.
After hearing, the court held that, firstly, "only direct representation" means that a trademark is only composed of signs that are directly descriptive and descriptive in relation to the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity or service content, quality, method, purpose, object and other characteristics of the goods designated for use, or that although the trademark contains other constituent elements, it is only directly expressed as a whole. Where a sign or its constituent elements imply the characteristics of the goods, but do not affect their ability to identify the source of the goods, the above circumstances do not apply. In this case, the disputed trademark consisted of the word "konjac shuang", which was designated for use on the "konjac powder" product, which directly indicated the main raw material of the product, konjac. The plaintiff asserted that "cool" was a distinctive part of the trademark, but "konjac cool" as a whole still constituted only a direct representation.
Secondly, if a sign acquires distinctive features through use and is easily identifiable, it can be registered as a trademark. For claims that a trademark acquires distinctiveness through use, comprehensive consideration should be given to the perception of the relevant public, the time, region, scale and method of use of the trademark, the popularity of the trademark such as advertising and publicity, and the use of other market entities. In this case, "Konjac Shuang" was used on a snack of Weilong Company, and the trademark was usually used in combination with the "Weilong" series of trademarks, and the relevant public easily regarded Weilong as the distinctive part of its "combined trademark", which was insufficient to prove that the disputed trademark "Konjac Shuang" had acquired distinctiveness after use.
In summary, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled to dismiss the plaintiff's claim and upheld the judgment.
It is understood that the plaintiff in the case, Weilong Company, has filed an appeal. (End)