According to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court's notice on September 15, the court recently accepted a second-instance civil case of unfair competition that infringed on the packaging and decoration of yuanqi forest soda sparkling water. Because the sparkling water produced by an enterprise in Zhejiang is similar to the packaging of Yuanqi Forest products, Yuanqi Forest (Beijing) Food Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yuanqi Forest Food Company) sued the company for stopping the infringement and claimed 3.6 million yuan, and after the court of first instance ruled that the defendant should stop the infringement and compensate 720,000 yuan, both the original defendants appealed. The case is currently pending.
Genki Forest Food Company is a producer of Genki Forest soda sparkling water. In 2019, Yuanqi Forest Food Company found that Zhejiang Quanshui Dingdong Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Quanshui Dingdong Food Company) sold a soda sparkling water called "Pro-Yuanqi Sugar-free 0 Fat 0 Card" on Tmall Mall and Jingdong Mall, and the font, logo and pattern used in the outer packaging of the product were very similar to the outer packaging of Yuanqi Forest Soda Sparkling Water. Guyuanqi Forest Food Company sued the court of first instance on the grounds of unfair competition, and filed a lawsuit against Quanshui Dingdong Food Company to stop using infringing packaging and decoration and compensate 3.6 million yuan for economic losses.
After trial, the court of first instance held that the packaging and decoration of soda sparkling aquatic products produced by Yuanqi Forest Food Company constituted the unique packaging and decoration of commodities with a certain impact, and the "pro-yuanqi sugar-free 0 fat 0 calorie" soda sparkling water produced and sold by Quanshui Dingdong Food Company was highly similar to the packaging and decoration of Yuanqi Forest Company's products, constituting an act of unfair competition. Accordingly, Quanshui Dingdong Company was ordered to stop using the infringing packaging and compensate Yuanqi Forest Food Company for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 720,000 yuan.
A few days ago, Yuanqi Forest Food Company and Quanshui Dingdong Food Company appealed to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court against the first-instance judgment. Yuanqi Forest Food Company appealed that the amount of compensation in the first instance trial was too low, and according to the sales volume of Quanshui Dingdong Company on Taobao and other websites, it demanded a total of more than 3.78 million yuan in compensation for economic losses and reasonable expenses. At the same time, Quanshui Dingdong Food Company appealed that the packaging of Yuanqi Forest Products did not constitute a certain impact on the packaging and decoration of commodities, and the packaging used by "Pro-Yuanqi Sugar-free 0 Fat 0 Card" soda sparkling water was not infringing, and the amount of compensation in the first instance was too high.
At present, the case is under further consideration.
Source: Beijing Daily Client