Shaoxing Kangke wins trademark infringement case against Merck Chemicals

Recently the Beijing 2nd Intermediate People's Court made the first instance judgment on the trademark infringement case between Shaoxing Kangke Capsule Co. Ltd. and German Merck Chemicals Ltd. The court established that Merck Chemicals infringed Shaoxing Kangke's exclusive right to use the registered trademark "康可," and ruled that Merck Chemicals should compensate RMB 155,000 to the plaintiff.

In 1992, Merck Chemicals translated its English mark "Concor" as "康可" and started to sell the medicine in China. Since 1992, the medicine has been sold in hospitals and pharmacies in many cities throughout China. In 1993, Merck Chemicals filed an application with the Trademark Office of China for registering the Chinese word mark "康可." However, the application was rejected, for the trademark "康可" had been registered by Shaoxing Kangke in 1989.

In 1995, Merck Chemicals intended to assign the trademark from Shaoxing Kangke, but was refused by Shaoxing Kangke. In 1999, Merck Chemicals requested the Trademark Office to cancel the registered trademark "康可." However, its request was rejected by the Trademark Office. In August 2003, Merck Chemicals again filed a request to cancel the involved mark, which was still rejected by the Trademark Office.

At the end of 2004, Shaoxing Kangke requested Merck Chemicals to immediately stop the act of infringement and bear the liabilities for infringement. Then Shaoxing Kangke investigated on the sales of Merck's medicine "康可" and made complaint to several local Administrations for Industry and Commerce.

At the end of 2006, Merck Chemicals stopped using the packages marked with "康可" and destroyed the goods that had entered the Chinese market. It changed the Chinese name of the medicine into "康忻."

In September 2007, the Beijing 2nd Intermediate People's Court accepted the case in which Shaoxing Kangke sued Merck Chemicals for trademark infringement. The court held that the goods manufactured by the defendant were in the same class as that covered by the plaintiff's registered trademark. In addition, the Chinese representation used by the defendant was identical with the main part of the cited mark. Therefore, the court convicted Merck Chemicals of trademark infringement, and ordered Merck Chemicals to compensate RMB 155,000 to Shaoxing Kangke.