“Taikuli Sanlitun”trademark was rejected

John Swire & Sons Limited (here in after as JSSL) in China applied for the registration of“Taikuli Sanlitun”trademark in education and teaching services. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (hereafter as TRAB) under State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China recjected the application followed by administrative stage of the case proceedings. Recently, Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court maintained the decision made by TRAB.

It is told that the No. 10344459 trademark application “Taikuli Sanlitun” was applied by JSSL in December in 2011, used on specify type of organization in the 41st classification for performances(shows), education, lectures, teaching and other services.

After the Trademark Office decided to reject the trademark registration, JSSL applied for a review to TRAB.

TRAB held that the applied trademark “Taikuli Sanlitun”was a famous commercial street in Beijing, and its use as a trademark could easily lead to confusion among the relevant public, and if the text is exclusively used by only one subject, it is easy to cause adverse effects. So TRAB decided to reject the trademark registration application.

JSSL refused to accept the decision, and then filed the administrative lawsuit to the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court.

The Court held that, the word in the application for trademark “Taikuli Sanlitun” was a commercial street in Beijing, and had a certain reputation, and should not be used exclusively; the trademark application for registration specifically on the use of a organizational performances (shows), education, lectures, teaching and other services, was easy to lead to the confusion of relevant public on services and its source, thus it should not be used as a trademark; the trademark examination was for the individual case review; the registered trademark JSSL offered could not be the basis for other trademark registration application.