Qizheng Spare Ribs" was sentenced to be delisted

The "free rider" of the Tibetan medicine brand lost the lawsuit

What is the name of a pork ribs and braised meat shop? Well, it was a good idea to have a store name that was the same as the trademark of a famous pharmaceutical company. The braised pork shop was sued by the pharmaceutical company before making a lot of money, and eventually lost the lawsuit and closed down.

"Qizheng" opened a butcher shop to sell pork ribs?

The person who opened the pork ribs and braised pork shop was Mr. Tan, and the person who took him to court was Gansu Qizheng Industrial Group Co., Ltd., as people also called it. Qizheng Tibetan Medicine.

One day in August 2004, when an employee of Qizheng Company was having dinner with his friends, his friend suddenly asked him: "Has your Qizheng Group opened another butcher shop? "He was shocked when he heard the news and asked his friend what was going on. The friend told him that a new "Qizheng Spare Ribs Braised Pork Shop (hereinafter referred to as Qizheng Spare Ribs)" was opened on Dingxi Road. The next day, the employee He immediately brought a digital camera and took a photo of the facade of Qizheng Spare Ribs Braised Pork Shop.

After obtaining the relevant evidence, Qizheng Tiangyao sued "Qizheng Spare Ribs" to the Lanzhou Intermediate People's Court and requested. Stop the infringement and pay 50,000 yuan in compensation.

The boss of "Qizheng Spare Ribs" believes that they and Qizheng Tibetan Medicine belong to different industries after all, and the products they sell do not have the same or similar problems.

"Good faith use" cannot be established. Under normal circumstances, Mr. Tan's point of view is certainly true, but the situation is different if "Qizheng" is a well-known golden sign. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether the "Qizheng" trademark is well-known. Trademarks have become the key to this case. For well-known trademarks, the law provides a higher level of special protection than general registered trademarks. Specifically, it extends the object of protection to goods or services that are not similar to the goods or services actually used. That is to say, it breaks through the scope of the pharmaceutical industry.

The collegial panel judge held that all registered trademarks of Qizheng Company meet the conditions for the recognition of well-known trademarks under my country’s Trademark Law and are recognized as well-known trademarks.

Mr. Tan said in court that he could only use it in good faith, so it could not constitute infringement.

The court held that Mr. Tan’s defense was untenable. A large signboard is made at the entrance of the store, and the word "Qizheng" is placed in a prominent position and the font is similar to the font used by Qizheng Company's well-known trademark. This behavior misleads consumers and is enough to make the public mistakenly think that it is the same as Qizheng Company. The company has some kind of relationship or is the same market entity, and its behavior has obvious "free-riding" intentions. This kind of use will also cause the rights holder's well-known trademarks to be diluted and cause damage to the rights holder.

" Qizheng Spare Ribs lost the lawsuit and closed down. Since the two Qizheng companies were operators in different industries, Qizheng Company had not yet established an affiliated enterprise in the industry operated by the defendant, and there was no horizontal competition between the two parties. Therefore, the court held that Qizheng Company did not There is loss; from the perspective that the defendant's use may cause the dilution of the right holder's well-known trademark, from the defendant's use method, continuous use time, business scale, scope of influence, etc., there is no evidence to prove and no corresponding objective facts It can be determined that the defendant's use has caused damage to the Qizheng Tibetan Medicine well-known trademark, and Qizheng Company has not suffered any economic losses in this regard. Therefore, the court did not support the plaintiff's request for compensation of 50,000 yuan, but ruled that Mr. Tan should immediately Stop the infringement of using the word "Qizheng" as the name of its pork ribs and braised pork restaurant.

On March 21, reporters discovered that Qizheng's pork ribs and braised pork restaurant had been delisted and closed down.

Our reporter Chen Xia and Liao Ming