Two "Chinese time-honored brands" and "Nanxiang" in Shanghai are in court over trademark infringement disputes. Because Shanghai Nanxiang Food Co., Ltd., which specializes in quick-frozen goods, authorized others to open catering shops in the name of "Nanxiang", Shanghai Old Town God Temple Catering (Group) Co., Ltd., which specializes in catering services, sued them to the court. On April 22, Nandu reporters learned from the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the "Shanghai Pudong Court") that on the afternoon of the same day, the court made a first-instance judgment after trial and recognition, ordering the four defendants to immediately stop trademark infringement and jointly compensate the two plaintiffs for economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection totaling 2.342 million yuan.
Two "Chinese time-honored brands" have a dispute over the "Nanxiang" trademark
According to reports, there are two "Chinese time-honored brands" in Shanghai that hold the "Nanxiang" trademark at the same time, Shanghai Old Town God Temple Catering (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Old City God Temple Company"), Shanghai Yuyuan Nanxiang Mantou Shop Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nanxiang Mantou Company") and other main catering services, Shanghai Nanxiang Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nanxiang Food Company"), Shanghai Nanxiang Catering Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nanxiang Catering Company") and other main frozen goods.
Nanxiang small cage.
Because the latter began to authorize others to open restaurants in the name of "Nanxiang", the Old City God Temple Company and the Nanxiang Mantou Company jointly sued Nanxiang Food Company, Nanxiang Catering Company, Runze Xiaolong Store (hereinafter referred to as "Runze Xiaolong Store") in Beicai Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, and its actual operator Xiang X to the court on the grounds of trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Liangyuan told that the Old Town God Temple Company was the owner of the service trademark "Nanxiang" No. 772405 and was approved for use in Class 43 "restaurants". Old Town God Temple Company is the sole shareholder of Nanxiang Mantou Company. In 2019, through the signing of the Trademark Use Contract, Nanxiang Mantou Company obtained the authorized use license of the trademark. For a long time, the popularity of the "Nanxiang" brand has been expanding, and it has won honors such as "Chinese Time-honored Brand".
In 2019, the two plaintiffs found that Nanxiang Food Company and Nanxiang Catering Company were suspected of exceeding the scope of their trademark approval and use to carry out catering franchise business. Runze Xiaolong Store is one of the franchised stores, and Xiang X is the actual operator of the store. In the operation of the restaurant store, the defendant used the "Nanxiang" and "Nanxiang Xiaolong" logos on store signs, store decoration, posters, tableware and other items. The plaintiff argued that this infringed on its exclusive right to use its service mark and constituted unauthorized use of its service name with a certain impact. At the same time, the defendant's use of words such as "Founding the Qing Dynasty Tongzhi Decade" and "Centennial Nanxiang" in the promotion of merchants to join the merchants also constituted false propaganda. Therefore, the two plaintiffs demanded that the four defendants immediately stop the infringement, and the defendants Nanxiang Food Company and Nanxiang Catering Company published statements to eliminate the impact and compensate the plaintiffs for economic losses and reasonable expenses for safeguarding their rights of 3 million yuan.
The four defendants argued that Nanxiang Food Company was the owner of the trademark "Nanxiang" No. 260205 and approved for use in Class 30 "Xiaolongbao, Wonton" and other goods. The trademark was awarded "China Time-honored Brand" in 2011. Nanxiang Catering Company is authorized by Nanxiang Food Company to use the "Nanxiang" trademark, and the two companies also enjoy the right to "Nanxiang". In addition, the hanging of the word "Nanxiang" in the store is intended to clearly indicate to consumers that the franchise store is a Nanxiang Town enterprise, and its external publicity content is also true and does not constitute false publicity, so it does not agree with all the plaintiff's litigation claims.
The court found that the defendant's conduct constituted trademark infringement and awarded 2.342 million yuan in damages
After trial, the Shanghai Pudong Court held that the service mark held by the plaintiff and the goods trademark held by the defendant were two different trademark classes. In this case, the defendant prominently used the "Nanxiang" and "Nanxiang Xiaolong" logos, which were identical and similar to the plaintiff's trademarks, in tangible items such as store signs and service tools, as well as in the investment solicitation of catering franchises, beyond the necessary scope of indicating the source of its own goods, and producing the effect of identifying the source of services. The defendant, knowing that the plaintiff's service mark has a relatively high reputation, still exceeded the boundaries of its rights, resulting in confusion and misidentification, constituting an infringement of the plaintiff's exclusive right to use the service mark.
At the same time, the court held that the goodwill obtained by the service name is inseparable from the goodwill carried by the registered trademark, so the Anti-Unfair Competition Law no longer overlaps protection in the areas protected by the Trademark Law. In addition, the trademarks that the plaintiff and the defendant enjoy rights have coexisted for a long time, and have been awarded the honors of "China Time-honored Brand", and have also contributed to the good goodwill of the "Nanxiang" brand, and the corresponding market pattern and legal order have been formed and recognized and accepted by the public. Therefore, considering the formation and development history of the two parties and the coexistence of the "Nanxiang" trademark, it is no longer appropriate to identify the defendant's conduct as unfair competition by false publicity.
Accordingly, after trial, the Shanghai Pudong Court rendered a first-instance judgment on the case, ordering the four defendants to immediately stop the trademark infringement, and Nanxiang Food Company and Nanxiang Catering Company jointly compensated the two plaintiffs for economic losses of 2 million yuan and reasonable expenses for rights protection of 342,000 yuan, and at the same time published a statement to eliminate the impact.
Written by: Intern Zeng Yue Nandu reporter Wu Jialing