The whole story of trademark dispute
According to online information, Lehaha is an intelligent technology company established in 2018. The enterprise mainly provides software and information technology services. Because of the registration of the enterprise name "Lehaha" and the corresponding "LEHAHA" trademark, Wahaha Group believes that the composition of the trademark is similar, and requests that the "Lehaha" trademark be ruled invalid.
However, the State Intellectual Property Office once determined that the "LEHAHA" trademark and the "Wahaha" trademark were not similar, and decided to maintain the "LEHAHA" trademark.
Wahaha claims that the trademark in dispute is similar to the cited trademark in terms of overall appearance, call, combination form, meaning, etc., which is easy to confuse and misrecognize consumers, so it should be judged as similar. Request to revoke the sued ruling and order the Intellectual Property Office to make a new ruling.
In this case, the court held that the trademark in dispute is a pure letter trademark "LEHAHA", and the reference trademark is a pure letter trademark "WAHAHA". The first two letters of the trademark in dispute are different from the reference trademark, and there are certain differences in call pronunciation and overall appearance.
In addition, "LEHAHA" corresponds to the plaintiff's enterprise name "Lehaha", which is used to describe the appearance of laughter, while "WAHAHA" has a strong attribute of fabrication, and the evidence on the record cannot prove that the third party's application for the trademark in dispute has an improper intention of free riding. In addition, the evidence submitted by the plaintiff cannot reflect that the cited trademark has been used to a certain extent in services such as category 35 promotion for others.
Considering the above factors, the contentious trademark and the quotation trademark coexist in the market, which is difficult to cause confusion and misunderstanding of the relevant public on the source of services.
The legal documents showed that the defendant ruled that the facts were clear, the applicable law was correct, the plaintiff's relevant grounds for prosecution were insufficient, and the court did not support his claim, so the court ruled against the plaintiff Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd.
Origin of Wahaha trademark
Founded in 1987, Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. is the largest food and beverage manufacturer in China and the fifth in the world. It has ranked first in China's beverage industry in terms of sales revenue, profit, tax and other indicators for many consecutive years, and has become the largest, most profitable and most potential food and beverage enterprise in China, and one of the top 500 private enterprises. And "Wahaha" and Quanpin "WAHAHA" are well-known trademarks in China.
At the beginning of the confirmation of Wahaha's product name, it was quite difficult. It was reported that Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group, had organized experts in many fields to study and demonstrate the naming when he cooperated with relevant colleges and universities to develop children's nutrient solution. Because it was a child's nutrient solution, the name was solidified in the "vegetable, essence and treasure", and hundreds of candidates could not choose one of their favorite names.
Zong Qinghou, the factory director, noticed that the words "Wahaha" in Xinjiang folk songs were finally chosen as the product name for three reasons:
1、 The vowel a in the word "Wahaha" is the earliest and easiest sound for children to pronounce, which is easy to imitate, loud, harmonious, easy to remember and accept.
2、 Literally, "ha ha" is the expression of laughter and joy by people of all colors.
3、 The children's songs of the same name are happy and bright, with strong national color. They are sung all over the Tianshan Mountains and around the Yangtze River. The widely spread national songs are linked with the product trademark, so that people can deepen their memory and improve their popularity.
Such a unique brand name really shortens the distance between consumers and goods. After the trademark was named, the factory carefully designed two lively and lovely doll images as trademark graphics to achieve the organic integration of trademark name and image.
With the rapid sales of Wahaha children's nutrition liquid, there are many brands similar to or similar to Wahaha on the market, such as "Wahaha Laughter", "Wahaha Le", "Wahualing", "Wawabao", "Wahaha Bone Strengthening Essence", "Lehaha", etc., which produce similar products and cause consumers to mistake their purchase. Wahaha Group immediately registered a series of defensive trademarks "Wahaha", "Hahawa" and "Hahaha", which is an effective means of self-protection.
It has been inherited for many years. "Wahaha" and Quanpin "WAHAHA" have become well-known trademarks in China.
Precautions for enterprises in trademark and brand layout
In the era of information explosion, especially in the layout of intellectual property rights, the importance of cross industry trademark protection is self-evident!
Enterprises should pay attention to the following points in terms of brand layout:
1. The enterprise gradually develops and grows in operation, and the content of its business may also touch other fields.
Then, it is necessary to register trademarks in other categories, especially the brand of the enterprise is getting better and better, and the reputation is getting more and more famous, which will make some people have the idea of "following the famous brand".
Focusing on core trademarks, multi category registration and protection in related categories and defense categories can be considered by enterprises with strength, which can not only expand the scope of trademark protection to effectively prevent the risk of others rushing to register trademarks, but also lay a solid foundation for subsequent enterprises' cross industry development in advance.
2. For the main trademark, some similar trademark name registration can be extended, which can effectively prevent others from rubbing their own brand popularity by riding around the famous brand and hitchhiking.
For example, the series trademarks of millet "Mi Family" rice, red rice and black rice, the series trademarks of "Lao Gan Ma" such as Lao Gan Ma and Lao Gan Ma, and the series trademarks of "Ali" such as Ali Mom and Ali Grandpa.
3. If the trademark elements of an enterprise contain multiple elements such as text, graphics and English, they can be registered separately in each form and in a combination of different combinations, which can not only improve the success rate of trademark registration, but also meet the various use needs of the enterprise (can be used in combination or separately).
Reasonable and effective trademark layout is the key factor for enterprises to develop rapidly.
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