Among the various local cuisines, Lanzhou beef ramen, Shaxian snacks and other famous, almost everyone knows. However, unlike other cuisines, these names not only represent a delicacy, but also belong to a registered trademark. This means that if you want to operate Lanzhou beef ramen, you need to obtain trademark license and brand authorization. Such an approach has merit from the perspective of maintaining quality standards for snacks and expanding local influence. However, looking back at the use of the xiaoyaozhen zi defendant in more than 50 peppery soup shops, this legal dispute is controversial, and there may be room for improvement in local practices. Since Xiaoyao Town does not belong to the geographical names of administrative divisions at or above the county level, and the collective is the subject of trademark applications, the trademark "Xiaoyao Town" complies with the provisions of the Trademark Law. However, the defendant's merchant store sign used the three characters "Xiaoyao Town" to declare the region to which the food belonged, similar to Beijing roast duck and Tianjin pancakes, and there was no subjective motive for intentional trademark infringement. In addition, in the media reports, the registered trademark "Happy Town" was not consistent with the Shop Signs of The Happy Town used by the defendant merchants. Although the relevant judicial interpretations have found that the use of a trademark identical to or similar to its registered trademark on the same kind of goods or similar goods is an act of infringement of the exclusive right of a registered trademark, the popularity of Hu Spicy Soup in Xiaoyao Town is relatively low, the distinctiveness of this trademark as a designated service is weak, and the constituent elements for determining trademark infringement are actually lacking. Whether the incident is ultimately infringing or not remains to be decided by the court, but from the perspective of the promotion and publicity of Hu Spicy Soup in Xiaoyao Town, the majority of Hu Spicy Soup merchants in Xiaoyao Town will build Hu Spicy Soup into a well-known local food brand such as Lanzhou Beef Ramen and Shaxian Snacks. (Chen Cheng)
Source: Guangming Daily