Today we are going to take a look at the latest developments in diamond painting.
Following the previous article, the plaintiff, Diamond Painting International Inc., amended the documents and made public its name on January 12, 2024, and filed a motion to seal on the same day.
At present, the case update is stuck on January 17, and the plaintiff still submits sealed documents to the court.
(▲The latest progress of the case, click to see the larger picture)
If you want to check the latest progress of diamond painting or other cases, you can click "123TRO - Case Search", enter the case number or the name of the plaintiff in the case to search.
Many buyers have some doubts about this case:
Q: Isn't the diamond painting a fine art product? The plaintiff registered a toy and fitness category, so he will also be sued?
The class on the trademark in question was registered according to the classification of the United States Trademark Office;
On overseas e-commerce platforms, diamond paintings are listed by merchants according to the product classification of the platform, so theoretically, some may be divided into toys, and some will be divided into other categories.
Q: Diamond painting has its own trademark category, in the 16th class, why is it written in the 28th class?
Let's take another look at the scope of registration in the trademark registration documents.
(▲ Trademark range, click to see a larger picture)
In layman's terms, as long as your Diamond Painting is sold within the above range, there will be a risk of infringement.
Xiaobian searched on overseas e-commerce platforms, and there were more than 20,000 results for this product, and it is conceivable that there are many merchants involved this time.
(▲ search page of an e-commerce platform, click to see a larger picture)
The plaintiff's trademark application was filed on September 7, 2020, and it was not officially granted until February 14, 2023.
In July 2023, the original trademark holder A transferred it to another mainland citizen, B, who transferred the trademark to the U.S. company in September of the same year, and the U.S. company filed a lawsuit on December 31 of the same year.
Savor these times, do you feel a little subtle?
(▲ Trademark transfer diagram, click to see a larger picture)
So why can such a popular term as Diamond Painting be approved?
In fact, this is not the first time that this has happened, and commonly used words such as Emoji, hula hoop, and XM-L have been registered as trademarks.
Emoji began to defend its rights in 2020, and as of 2023, there have been more than 100 cases.
As of 2023, more than 100 sellers have cut leeks from more than 100 sellers (6 infringement cases from 7.10 to 7.16, and new cases of hula hoop and UFO Frisbee);
Cree LED also relied on trademarks like "XM-L" to claim millions of dollars in compensation from sellers (XM-L is also a trademark! Last year, a seller was sued for millions of dollars in compensation).
Some such as hula hoop registered trademarks as early as 1962, and Emoji and XM-L were registered in 2016 and 2017.
With the passage of time, the examination system of the U.S. Trademark Office has become more and more perfect, but it is not excluded that the examiner will pass the examination because the examiner believes that a word is not a common word.
For example, Diamond painting is really a lot of luck before it is successfully registered.
Nowadays, trademark infringement can be described as full of tricks, and when you encounter some newly registered trademarks with more common words, you should search for more keywords when you put them on the shelves.
As trade between countries becomes closer, friction and disputes are inevitable. The other party will continue to use the law to defend its rights, and we must also learn to use legal weapons to protect ourselves.
Don't panic when you encounter a case, it must be justified if you don't prosecute, and don't rush to compromise and settle.
If you believe that the other party's IP is flawed, the frozen funds are relatively high, the product has not been sent to the litigation state, the product can be proved to be genuine, the sales volume is small and verifiable, etc., you can contact us Qingfeng to discuss the solution, we will find a balance between the timeliness, cost, and justice of the processing, and help you better solve the case.
With more than 15 years of trial experience, Qingquan Cooperation's U.S. IP lawyers have represented many defendant sellers in defending against the plaintiff's TRO/PI injunction and resolving cases with zero compensation.
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