In order to strengthen publicity and education on the protection and use of intellectual property rights, comprehensively enhance the public's awareness of respecting and protecting intellectual property rights, and deter and stop illegal acts of intellectual property infringement, the Sanya Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Sanya Municipal Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau, the Sanya Suburban People's Court, and the Sanya Intellectual Property Protection Center jointly released five typical cases of intellectual property protection.
Case 1
Case of sales of goods infringing the exclusive right to use the registered trademark of "KARMEEN Carman International" by Enhong Decoration Service Department in Panlong District, Kunming
Brief facts of the case: The trademark No. 31502515 "KARMEEN CARMEEN International" is a registered trademark of Zhejiang KARMAEN Rubber Flooring Co., Ltd. on the "plastic flooring" goods in Class 19. The announcement of the trademark registration was made on June 7, 2019, and the exclusive period of the trademark was from June 7, 2019 to June 6, 2029, and on April 11, 2023, the Sanya Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau found suspected infringement of "KARMEEN" at the construction site of Building 8, Deep-sea Science and Technology Innovation Public Platform, Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, Yazhou District, Sanya City After investigation, on April 9, 2023, the Enhong Decoration and Decoration Service Department of Panlong District, Kunming directly consigned 126 rolls of floor rubber products to the construction site of the deep-sea science and technology innovation public platform project of Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, Yazhou District, Sanya City. In order to pass the buyer's inspection, the employees of Kunming Enhong Service Department bypassed the project contractor and affixed the commodity label of "KARMEEN International" to the above-mentioned 126 rolls of floor glue products at the construction site without the permission of the trademark registrant. According to the "PVC Floor Rubber Supply Contract" signed by Enhong Service Department and Shi'an Company, the illegal business turnover was 31,311 yuan. The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of Article 57(3) of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China. On July 3, 2023, in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 60 of the Trademark Law, the Sanya Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau ordered the parties to stop the infringing acts, confiscate the infringing goods, and impose a fine of 32,000 yuan and hand them over to the state treasury.
Typical significance: the building materials sales industry is related to the vital interests of the people, related to people's livelihood and project quality and safety, the parties in the sales process, unauthorized affixing of the "KARMEEN Carman International" logo, infringement of the exclusive right to use the trademark, the law enforcement department made administrative penalties in accordance with the law, while safeguarding the rights and interests of the trademark owner, further standardize the building materials market order, protect people's livelihood, and serve high-quality development.
Case 2
Case of Sanya Feirong Department Store selling goods infringing the exclusive right to use a registered trademark
Case Summary: On January 10, 2022, law enforcement officers of the Sanya Municipal Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau conducted a law enforcement inspection of Sanya Feirong Department Store located at shop P1-3 in the Boulevard Riverside Community at the intersection of Fenghuang Road and Yuechuan Middle Road, Jiyang District, Sanya City, Hainan Province, and found that the store was selling 6 bottles of "Wuliangye" wine, 7 bottles of "Guojiao 1573" wine, 5 bottles of "Dream Blue M6" wine, and 1 bottle of "Jiannanchun" wine suspected of infringing the exclusive right to use a registered trademark. The Sanya Municipal Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau seized the above-mentioned goods involved in the case in accordance with the law. The parties claimed that the goods involved in the case were recovered from four customers, but they were unable to provide transaction vouchers, recovery documents and contact information of suppliers. After identification, the above-mentioned goods infringed the exclusive right to use the registered trademark, and the value of the goods involved was 16,900 yuan. In accordance with Article 57 (3) and Article 60, Paragraph 2 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, the Sanya Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau ordered the parties concerned to immediately stop the illegal acts, confiscate the infringing goods, and impose a fine of 33,800 yuan and hand them over to the state treasury.
Typical significance: With the improvement of living standards, consumers are more favored by well-known liquor, while unscrupulous merchants take advantage of consumers' psychology to take risks to produce and sell counterfeit well-known brand liquor. The investigation and handling of this case is conducive to cracking down on the illegal acts of unauthorized use or forgery of others' trademarks, safeguarding the vital interests of the people, and creating a safe, secure and honest consumer environment.
Case 3
A patent infringement dispute between a Sichuan food company and a non-staple food store in Sanya
Brief facts of the case: A food company in Sichuan enjoys a patent right for the design of a "bottle". On July 7, 2023, the company found that the external features of the bottle of "Chuhao" 210ml pepper oil on sale were the same or similar to the design patent of its "bottle" in a non-staple food store in Sanya, and considered that it fell within the protection scope of its patent, and requested the Sanya Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "Sanya Bureau") to order the non-staple food store to immediately stop the infringement, clean up and destroy the infringing products, and compensate for economic losses of 50,000 yuan.
After examination, the Sanya Bureau held that the alleged infringing products and the patented products were both bottles, and the shape and body pattern of the bottles were basically the same. The only difference between the two is that the square red pattern on the front of the patent in question contains the words of its corporate brand, and the text of the alleged infringing product is "cold-pressed extraction". However, the wording here is a customary design, whether it indicates the corporate brand or the extraction process. The above differences are all differences in detail, but they are basically the same in other aspects. Based on the knowledge level and cognitive ability of ordinary consumers in this field, there is no substantial difference between the two in terms of overall visual effect, so it is determined that the alleged infringing design and the authorized design are similar. The Hainan Provincial Intellectual Property Office appointed a technical investigator to participate in the adjudication of the case, and the technical investigator issued a technical investigation opinion for the reference of this case. In accordance with the provisions of Article 11, Paragraph 2, Article 64, Paragraph 2 and Article 65 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 43, Paragraph 1 (3) of the Measures for Administrative Enforcement of Patents, the Sanya Bureau made an administrative ruling: ordering the respondent to immediately stop selling the products involved in the case.
Typical significance: This case involves the protection of design patent rights. In the determination of infringement of designs, there is often no dispute about the same design, and the dispute is mainly over the determination of whether they are similar. The criterion for judging is to stand in the perspective of ordinary consumers, adopt the principle of individual comparison, conduct direct observation, and adopt the method of overall observation and comprehensive judgment when comparing. The enlightenment of this case lies in the fact that when judging whether there is similarity, the method of overall observation and comprehensive judgment is adopted, rather than partial observation and comparison. At the same time, a technical investigator was called in the case to play the role of "technical staff" in the determination of infringement in the case.
Case 4
Administrative mediation of a patent infringement dispute between a company in Xiamen and a commercial bank in Sanya
Case Summary: On November 22, 2023, a company in Xiamen filed a complaint with the Intellectual Property Court of Hainan Free Trade Port (hereinafter referred to as the "Free Trade Port Court"), suing a commercial bank in Sanya for allegedly selling goods that infringed the design patent right of showers (H11013), and demanding compensation of 30,000 yuan for economic losses from a commercial bank in Sanya. After receiving the plaintiff's claim, the Free Trade Port Court immediately guided the case to be mediated by the Sanya Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "Sanya Bureau") on the premise of fully respecting the parties' willingness to mediate. The mediator of the Sanya Bureau carefully checked the materials, understood the case in detail, and reviewed the evidence materials and related claims in accordance with the law. Since the petitioner was not in Sanya and the respondent was busy with business and could not mediate face-to-face, the mediator communicated through WeChat and telephone, combined with the court judgment of similar cases and the results of dispute mediation, explained the law reasonably, and facilitated mutual concessions between the two parties, and finally reached an agreement: the respondent paid the respondent 4,000 yuan for economic losses to the petitioner. The mediation agreement is signed by post and judicially confirmed by the Free Trade Port Court.
Typical significance: In this case, the court and the administrative department efficiently linked to establish an "integrated mediation and trial" mechanism for intellectual property disputes, and the Sanya Bureau took into account the actual situation of both parties and adopted online mediation, which took only 13 days from the acceptance of the case to the successful mediation, which greatly saved the travel and time costs of the parties and achieved "zero running" in dispute mediation. After reaching an agreement, the rights and interests of the right holder are further protected through judicial confirmation, the second lawsuit is avoided, the right holder's worries are solved, and the dispute handling is better conveniently and efficiently.
Case five
Zhejiang Red Dragonfly Shoes Co., Ltd. v. Sanya Hongdu Department Store Co., Ltd., a trademark infringement dispute
Case Facts: Zhejiang Red Dragonfly Shoes Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Red Dragonfly Company) obtained the exclusive right to use the registered trademarks No. 905213 "Red Dragonfly and Graphics", No. 3166179 "Red Dragonfly Graphics" and No. 3670359 "Red Dragonfly" through trademark transfer, and the above-mentioned trademarks were approved for use on clothing, shoes, hats and other goods, and on March 3, 2008, No. 905213 "Red Dragonfly and Graphics" was recognized as a well-known trademark by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Sanya Hongdu Department Store Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hongdu Company) was approved for registration on September 5, 2018, and its business scope includes business management services, clothing, shoes, hats, leather bags, leather goods, etc. Red Dragonfly Company believed that Hongdu Company had displayed footwear shelves marked with red dragonfly patterns, "REDDRAGONFLY" and "Red Dragonfly" in the counter of its supermarket "YPL Premium Chain", which caused confusion among the relevant public, infringed the exclusive right to use the registered trademark of Red Dragonfly, and caused serious losses to Red Dragonfly, and filed a special lawsuit with the court requesting that Hongdu Company be ordered to stop the infringement and compensate for the loss of 50,000 yuan.
After examination, the court held that the display shelves of footwear products in the counters of "YPL Premium Chain" operated by Hongdu Company and the logos used on the goods sold played a role in identifying the source of the goods in the display shelves, and should be trademark use. After comparison, the red dragonfly pattern used on the display shelf of the commodity is the same as the registered trademark No. 3166179 "Red Dragonfly Graphics", the words "Red Dragonfly" are similar to the registered trademark No. 3670359 "Red Dragonfly" in terms of word shape, pronunciation and meaning, and the dragonfly patterns printed on the bottom of the shoes, shoe boxes and handbags of the leather shoes sold at the counter are similar to the dragonfly graphic components in the registered trademark No. 905213 "Red Dragonfly and Graphics" in terms of meaning, composition, inclination angle, The overall visual similarity and the fact that the goods involved in the case are in the same category as those approved for use of the above-mentioned registered trademarks are likely to mislead the relevant public as to the source of the goods. The goods involved in the case sold by Hongdu Company constituted the use of similar trademarks on the same goods, and it should be determined that Hongdu Company's sale of the goods involved in the case infringed the exclusive right to use the registered trademark of Red Dragonfly Company.
The Sanya Suburban People's Court rendered the (2022) Qiong 0271 Min Chu No. 11758 Civil Judgment: 1. The defendant Sanya Hongdu Department Store Co., Ltd. immediately stopped selling the goods that infringed the exclusive right to use the registered trademarks No. 905213 "Red Dragonfly and Graphics", No. 3670359 "Red Dragonfly" and No. 3166179 "Red Dragonfly Graphics"; The defendant, Sanya Hongdu Department Store Co., Ltd., shall compensate the plaintiff, Zhejiang Red Dragonfly Shoes Co., Ltd., for economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection totaling 8,000 yuan within 10 days from the effective date of this judgment.
After the judgment, Hongdu Company appealed to the Hainan Free Trade Port Intellectual Property Court, which rendered the (2023) Qiong 73 Min Zhong No. 207 Civil Judgment, rejecting the appeal and upholding the original judgment.
Typical significance: The behavior of market operators "free-riding" and clinging to the goodwill of others not only infringes on the trademark rights and interests of the right holder, but also infringes on the consumer's right to know and the right to choose. Through the trial of this case, the majority of market operators are reminded that they should fulfill their main responsibilities, consciously regulate the use of trademarks, and not have a fluke mentality for the illegal acts of "famous brands" and "free riders", otherwise they will be subject to administrative penalties and bear civil liability for compensation, and if the circumstances are serious, they will also bear criminal liability.
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Source: Sanya Administration for Market Regulation
Editor: Chen Meiying
Review: Liao Baoyu