Another "green pepper" trademark dispute case was changed! The owner of the winning lawsuit said that he could finally feel at ease for the New Year

Another case of "green pepper" trademark infringement dispute case was changed in the second instance. On January 20, Mr. Advocate of the Longquan Street In longquan street in Chengdu, who had been sued for infringement because of the word "green peppercorns" in the store sign, told Nandu reporters that he received a second-instance judgment on the 19th, and the Sichuan Provincial High People's Court revoked the first-instance judgment and rejected all the claims of Shanghai Wancuitang Catering Management Co., Ltd. "Finally, I can spend the New Year with peace of mind."

Mr. Zhang's shop signboard.

The second instance found that the hot pot restaurant complained of was a proper use of "green peppercorns"

Nandu previously reported that at the end of 2021, a number of restaurant operators in Sichuan were sued by Shanghai Wancuitang Restaurant Management Co., Ltd. for trademark infringement because of the name of the store and the word "green pepper" in the menu. Mr. Zhang was also one of them, and he was sued for writing "Chongqing Green Pepper Fish Live Fish Buffet" on the store signboard. On November 26, 2021, the case was heard in the first instance of the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court. In mid-December, he received a verdict and was ordered to immediately stop using the logo with the word "green pepper" on the store sign and compensate Wancuitang Company for 30,000 yuan.

Dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment, Mr. Zhang immediately filed an appeal and was accepted by the court. On January 14, 2022, the Sichuan Higher People's Court held a hearing on the trademark infringement dispute. Mr. Zhang's lawyer claimed that green peppercorns are a common name for condiments, and the "green peppercorns" in the store's signboard are used as the name of the dish, reflecting the ingredients and business characteristics of the dishes, and should not be considered to constitute trademark use, and applied for the revocation of the first-instance judgment.

On January 20, Mr. Zhang told Nandu reporters that he had received a second-instance judgment the day before, "Won! ”

The judgment it presented to the Nandu reporter shows that the Sichuan Higher People's Court held that the use of the word "green pepper" by the cat fish hot pot shop was a legitimate use, "the word 'green pepper' contained in the physical store sign of the steamed cat fish hot pot shop and the name of the store on the Meituan website is the same as the word 'green pepper' contained in the trademark involved in the case of Wancuitang Company, but the word 'green pepper' on the top left of the "green pepper" on the physical store sign of the hungry cat fish hot pot shop is appended to the word 'hungry cat', and the word 'Chongqing' is used before 'green pepper' and the word 'fish' is appended to the back The words 'Live Fish Self-Help', 'Green Peppercorn' and 'Chongqing' and 'Fish Live Fish Self-Help' are consistent in terms of font, font size, color, height, etc., and the three words of 'Green Pepper' are not prominently used separately; the name of the store on the Meituan website does not prominently use the three words of 'Green Pepper', which are used together with other logos, which are obviously different from the trademarks involved in the case of Wancuitang Company. ”

The Sichuan Higher People's Court held that the word "green pepper" in the logo used by the cat fish hot pot restaurant was an objective description of the green peppercorn seasoning contained in the fish hot pot of the specialty dish it provided, and was not a trademark use, and its use was also in line with business practices. "As a catering industry operator, Wancuitang Company should also follow the principle of good faith, exercise its rights in accordance with the law, and have no right to interfere with or prohibit the proper use and honest operation of the word 'green pepper' in the Steamed Cat Fish Hot Pot Restaurant, and its litigation claims should not be supported."

In the end, the Sichuan Higher People's Court ruled to revoke the chengdu intermediate court's previous first-instance judgment and rejected all of Wancuitang's litigation claims.

The owner of the winning hot pot restaurant said that he would apply to register his trademark next

"After a year of hard work, I can finally live the New Year with peace of mind." When he received a call from a reporter from Nandu, Mr. Zhang was making fish in the kitchen of the restaurant. He was very happy to be able to win the verdict before the Spring Festival. "Since I was indicted last year, I have not changed my signboard. I hope that business will get better and better in the new year. ”

Mr. Zhang told Nandu reporter that through this incident, he also learned more about the importance of trademarks, and then he planned to apply for the registration of his trademarks.

In fact, this is the second case of "green pepper" trademark infringement dispute in which the judgment of the second instance has been changed. Nandu previously reported that on January 13, the Sichuan Higher People's Court held a hearing on the trademark infringement dispute between Shanghai Wancuitang Catering Management Co., Ltd. and Chengdu Wenjiang Wu'a Po Qinghua Pepper Fish Hot Pot Restaurant, and the second instance judgment determined that the word "green pepper" in the hot pot shop's sign was a proper use and did not constitute infringement, and the court announced the revocation of the first-instance judgment.

Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zou, the owner of the Wu'a Po Green Pepper Fish Hot Pot Restaurant, held a trial in the first instance on the same day, obtained the same judgment and appealed, and the second instance trial was only one day apart. Mr. Zhang told Nandu reporters that the news of Mr. Zou's victory in the second-instance trial had given him more confidence. Now, when Mr. Zhang shared his joy of winning the case in the circle of friends, Mr. Zou also praised him.

Nandu reporter noted that the second-instance judgment of the "green pepper" trademark infringement dispute case was also written into the work report of the Sichuan Higher People's Court. On January 19, at the Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress of Sichuan Province, Wang Shujiang, president of the Sichuan Higher People's Court, said in his work report that the Sichuan court has increased the protection of trademarks and geographical indications of Sichuan guochuan cuisine and Sichuan wine and sichuan tea, and served the industry to revitalize agriculture. It listed a number of typical cases, including "properly handling the 'green pepper' trademark dispute case, and determining that the legitimate use of the business operator does not constitute infringement in accordance with the law." ”

Written by: Nandu reporter Liu Miao