McDonald sued the Trademark Appeal Board for its identification of Wonderful's brand

Recently, McDonald indicted the Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as TAB) for its approval of "Wonderful 万代福" trademark and logo (hereinafter referred to as W trademark) with a yellow capital letter "W" on a red background.

Beijing Municipal No.1 Intermediate People's Court heard the case.

Han Yihe, owner of W trademark, presented at the court as a third party.

In 2001, the corporation run by Han Yihe filed a trademark application for "Wonderful 万代福" trademark and logo. In 2003, McDonald submitted a written objection against W trademark, claiming that the W trademark constituted similarity with McDonald's M trademark and would easily confuse consumers. Therefore, McDonald required the TAB to revoke the W trademark. However, its request was rejected.

After McDonald required the TAB to reconsider its request, the TAB in 2010 ruled to revoke W trademark in classes including restaurant, coffee shop, cocktail party service, bar and teahouse, meanwhile, maintain its validity in other registered classes.

McDonald was still not satisfied with the ruling and took a legal action to call for the complete removal of W trademark.

The case will be heard soon.

McDonald: W trademark maliciously copied M trademark

McDonald believed people who ate McDonald's food were likely to buy clothes and enjoyed other services with W trademark, therefore W trademark would potentially weaken the distinctiveness of its M trademark.

The company claimed that McDonald had become a well-known trademark by years of hard working and publicity. Therefore, their rights should be duly protected.

McDonald used some media reports and self-made leaflets to support their sayings, declaring that it became China's leading fast-food business in 2001.

In addition, McDonald also accused Han Yihe of his malicious trademark registration, saying that Han's W trademark deliberately copied its M trademark.

TAB: W trademark did not confuse consumers

The TAB rejected McDonald's argument, saying no evidence provided by McDonald were officially issued, therefore, it can not prove that McDonald's trademark became a well-known trademark in 2001.

In addition, the TAB pointed out that allowing W trademark to be used in classes other than food would not mislead consumers.

Han Yihe: McDonald intended to establish monopolies

Han stated that his W trademark had no relation with M trademark and he criticized McDonald's ambition of preventing others to use any W-related trademarks and setting barrier to innovations in food industry.

Han said that W was one letter of Chinese phonetic alphabet and was not the rotation of letter M as believed by McDonald.

Han believed that anyone had the right to use letter M for any product and service, for example, the M trademark owned by Motorola and the M&M's trademark registered by a company in the United States.

Furthermore, W trademark did not constitute similarity with M trademark no matter in terms of the design or text. [Chinese version is available on epaper.jinghua.cn]