Why not create your own brand instead of infringing others' trademarks? Recently, Lihua Footwear Trading Co., Ltd. (referred to as Lihua Company), the owner of the well-known footwear trademark "Belle" in China, sued a self-employed person in Nanshan District for infringing the trademark and launched a second-instance investigation in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. It is not uncommon for self-employed individuals and small businesses to be sued by well-known large companies for trademark infringement, which also sounded the alarm for the business behavior of some self-employed individuals and small businesses. Abuse of "Belle" trademark leads to litigation.
It is understood that Lihua Company is the trademark owner of Belle, Belle and Belle, among which Belle and Belle are also well-known trademarks recognized by China.
According to the complaint of Lihua Company, an individual store in Nanshan District has been selling a large number of footwear products that infringe Lihua Company's exclusive right to use the above-mentioned trademarks by wholesale and retail, that is, the footwear products sold by the store have not been authorized by Lihua Company to produce, but use Belle, Belle, Belle and other trademarks, which seriously infringes Lihua Company's exclusive right to use the trademarks. On May 3 1 last year, Lihua Company preserved the evidence of the infringement of this individual store. Notaries from Shenzhen Notary Office and Lihua Company entrusted agents to buy two pairs of Belle women's shoes in individual stores, and obtained sales receipts, POS receipts and VIP cards on the spot. The notary sealed up the purchased goods.
Houlihua Company sued Yang, the owner of an individual store, to Nanshan Court, demanding that Yang immediately stop the infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark, compensate 50,000 yuan and bear the litigation costs. Lihua Company also sued Yang in Futian Court because Yang had the same behavior in another store in Futian District. Individual stores also admit infringement.
When Nanshan Court held its first session, Yang did not appear in court. The trial of first instance held that, according to the Trademark Law, "using the same or similar trademark on the same commodity or similar commodities without the permission of the trademark registrant" and "selling goods that infringe the exclusive right to use a registered trademark" are all acts of infringing the patent right of a registered trademark. The first trial held that the trademark logo obviously used by women's shoes sold in individual shops was the same as "Belle" and "Belle" of Lihua Company, and it was an infringement without the permission of Lihua Company. Accordingly, Nanshan court ruled that Yang immediately stopped selling infringing goods and awarded Yang compensation of 15000 yuan. After the judgment of the first instance, Yang refused to accept the appeal. When the second trial was held yesterday, both parties entrusted agents to appear in court. According to the court, the lawsuit in Futian District also awarded Yang compensation of15,000 yuan, and Yang also appealed.
At the court hearing yesterday, Yang admitted that his behavior was infringing, but at the same time, he thought that these shoes had a legal source and were imported from a company in Guangzhou, so they could be exempted from liability for compensation. At the same time, Lihua filed a lawsuit in Futian and Nanshan at the same time, which was a repetition of the same lawsuit and appeal.
Lihua Company claims that Yang can't provide evidence to prove that the infringing women's shoes have a "legal source". Even if the goods are imported from a company in Guangzhou, it can only show that the infringing goods are imported and the source is still illegal. Regarding the statement of "repeated lawsuits", Lihua Footwear said that although all the lawsuits were directed at Yang, they represented two individual shops and were two independent subjects.
Yesterday, the two sides expressed their willingness to mediate, but failed to reach a mediation in court. The case is still under trial.
2- Big brands also look at the trademark infringement of Seven Wolves next to big brands.
On the morning of April 27th, the Beijing Intermediate People's Court ruled that Seven Wolves Company infringed Kochi Company's exclusive right to use trademarks and compensated Kochi Company for 200,000 yuan. The plaintiff is the owner of the world-famous clothing and accessories brand "Coach" and registered its graphic trademark. The plaintiff claimed that the seven wolves used Kochi trademark on their shoes without authorization and sold it in many cities across the country, which constituted trademark infringement.
Seven wolves replied that the design was used as decoration, and its main function was not to distinguish the source of goods, so it did not constitute infringement. In addition, "Seven Wolves" obviously uses the trademark of "Seven Wolves". Finally, the court held that the use of the pattern by "Seven Wolves" would lead to mistaken recognition of the trademark, and the letter C combination of "Seven Wolves" obviously constituted the same pattern as the registered trademark of Kochi Company, the plaintiff involved in the case, thus infringing the exclusive right of the trademark.
In recent years, there have been many cases of imitating famous brands or neighboring famous brands, infringing on others' exclusive right to use trademarks and trying to make money by taking shortcuts. However, as a well-known domestic brand, it is rare to imitate international brands. The paradox of China market is that consumers like foreign brands. Enterprises like foreign brands and don't want to work hard to create them. Therefore, it is obviously a domestic product, but it has to be close to foreign trademark brands, while our local brands have fallen into a trough and the growth is slow. The deep purpose of promoting the prosperity of trademark transfer market is to hope that China enterprises can develop their own culture, build their own trademark brands and have their own trademark stories. You can't always imitate and never surpass.