Case details

They all said, "I haven't eaten Chen Hua Hua, but I haven't been to the magnetic outlet." "Special snack" has become the synonym for the ancient town of Chongqing, and has become a typical representative of Chongqing's special snacks, and is a name card of Chongqing.

It is understood that the first Chongqing twist company, Chen Changyin founded in 2007, Chongqing magnetic mouth Chen Hua Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chen Hua Hua company"), is also the only known as "Chongqing time-honored brand" brand. At present, Chen Ma Hua food company has applied for 434 trademarks, and has successfully registered trademarks such as "Old Town Chen Hua Hua", "magnetic mouth Chen Chen Hua" and "Chen Ma Hua", etc., and have been approved for use in many categories.

However, there are many merchants with the slogan of Chen Hua Hua. So many "Chen Hua Hua" not only led to conflicts of interests among business operators, but also faced huge differences in trademark issues, so a trademark war about "Chen Ma Hua" started.

Case review

The trademark litigation dispute over the years has originated from a number of Ma merchants who have filed a request for invalidation of the registered trademark of Chen Ma Hua company. Among them, the most representative is the 13488202nd "Chen Hua Hua" trademark.

In November 2013, Chen Ma Hua applied for "Chen Hua Hua" trademark and registered it in November 2017. It is used in the thirtieth category of trademark classification: twist. Strange flavor beans; Amber peanuts, etc. In the ancient town of Guqiao Town, there were 5 dissenting merchants objection to the registration of trademarks. They filed a request for invalidation from the Trademark Office to the "Chen Hua Hua" trademark from December 2017 to January 2018.

These merchants believe that "Chen Ma Hua" has become a common name for the use of twisted goods, and the trademark does not possess the salient features. Its registration is invalid in violation of the relevant provisions of the trademark law.

Chen Mahua company believes that "Chen Hua Hua" is not the general name of the twist, but rather refers to Chen Changyin's twist. He is the founder of the "Chen Hua Hua" brand. The rest of Chen Hua Hua is a violation of Chen Changyin's "Chen Hua Hua" and is an act of unfair competition. They should also enjoy the exclusive right to use "fried dough twist".

In March 2019, the Trademark Office made a ruling to declare the trademark in dispute invalid. Chen Hua Hua did not comply with the ruling of the State Intellectual Property Office, and filed an administrative lawsuit against the intellectual property court of Beijing, which continued to be rejected.

In February 2020, Chen Ma Hua also appealed to the higher people's Court of Beijing. The supreme law made a two trial decision in May 2020, and decided that the trademark should not be declared invalid, and the verdict of the first instance and the Trademark Office were cancelled.

5 households were refused to accept the application for retrial to the Supreme People's court. In March 2021, the Supreme People's court ruled that the trial was made and the final judgment was made in December 2021.

Case enlightenment

The Supreme People's court held that the operator and the public had linked the "Chen Hua Hua" with the Chongqing porcelain mouth, and "Chen Hua Hua" became a reference for a snack product. Although the evidence does not prove that the relevant public generally believes that "Chen Hua Hua" refers specifically to what kind of twisted goods, "Chen Hua Hua" is not enough to constitute the generic name of the twisted goods. However, based on the fact that the relevant public is aware of the "Chen Hua Hua" and the local operator's use of the "Chen Hua Hua" sign, it is proved that "Chen Hua Hua" has no way to distinguish the production of the specific twisted goods from the application for registration of the trademark. Therefore, it shall not be registered as a trademark.

In addition, the use of a trademark against a commodity other than that of a trademark is a violation of the relevant provisions of the trademark law, and the original judgment is correct.

Therefore, the Supreme Court decided to revoke the second instance judgment made by the Beijing Higher People's court and maintain the administrative judgment made by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

This means that the dispute between the trademark "Chen Ma Hua" and "Ci Kou Chen Hua Hua" has come to a close. Since then, not only will Chen Ma Hua company no longer enjoy thirtieth kinds of "Chen Ma Hua" trademark exclusive rights, but no longer can we use "Chen Hua Hua" as a registered trademark. The disputes between the manufacturers of magnetic materials and Chen Ma Hua will cease for many years.

Although Chen Tsing Hua has won many awards since its founding, however, due to its lack of awareness of trademark protection, it failed to plan and layout brands and trademarks in a timely manner, and lost the exclusive right of the brand.

"Fried dough twist" trademark disputes give you business owners to ring alarm. Small brands should raise awareness of trademark protection, launch trademark layout as early as possible, take the trademark infringement mechanism actively, and better safeguard their rights and interests. When registering a trademark, establish a correct awareness of trademark registration and avoid registering a trademark that has formed a common name or lacks distinctive features. In addition, we should also pay attention to the design quality of our own trademark, improve the significance of the trademark, and reasonably select the commodity category of trademark registration.

Do a good job in trademark defense and build a well-known brand.

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