South Korean company won trademark lawsuit in China

A Chinese nature person Li Jihe’s trademark “Yuan Grandmother” registered on hotels, restaurants and other services suffered from controversy by a South Korean nature person surnamed Park. Recently, Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court made a decision to revoke Li’s trademark application. 

The disputed No. 7554400 trademark “Yuan Grandmother and image” was applied by Li in July 2009, and then approved for restaurants, cafes and other services on the 43rd class commodities. The cited No. 4847686 trademark was applied by Park in August 2005, and then approved for restaurants, tourist restaurants and other services on the 43rd class commodities. 

Within the statutory period, Park claimed that the disputed trademark was same trademark in same or similar services for it was the same as the cited trademark in text, graphics and composition. And the graphic character of disputed trademark was similar with the cited trademark, which was violation of the prior copyrights by Park. Thus, Park filed an application to Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China. After TRAB revoked the disputed trademark, Li filed an administrative lawsuit. 

Li held that, the cited trademark “Yuan Grandmother” was composed by Korean character； since Chinese consumers had low recognition about Korean character, the two trademarks could be significantly distinguished from each other. 　
 
After hearing, the court held that, the two trademarks had the same meaning texts in different languages and similar images, so the two trademarks constitute similar trademarks. Accordingly, the court made the decision above.