A trademark infringement case refers to the unauthorized use of another person’s registered trademark by a company or individual, which is an infringement. The following is an analysis of some typical trademark infringement cases.
1. Weilong Company Infringement Case
Weilong Company is a food manufacturing company with a history of more than 30 years. Its flagship product is Weilong Spicy Tiao. However, in 2018, Weilong was ordered to pay 142 million yuan in compensation for infringing PepsiCo's "Oatmeal Milk" trademark. The case was mainly disputed because Weilong Company used the words PepsiCo’s trademark “Oatmeal Milk” in its Weilong Spicy Tiao products. As a result, the court believed that Weilong's behavior was likely to mislead and confuse consumers, and at the same time damaged PepsiCo's brand image and goodwill. Therefore, it ruled that Weilong needed to compensate for economic losses of 142 million yuan.
2. Brown Sugar Puff Infringement Case
Brown Sugar Puff is a catering company with its own brand. However, it used the "Balenciaga" trademark on its website and physical stores. and was sued for infringement. The court believed that Brown Sugar Puff's use of the "Balenciaga" trademark might be misleading and made people mistakenly believe that it was related to the French Balenciaga brand. Therefore, it determined that it was infringing and ruled that Brown Sugar Puff needs to stop the infringement and compensate 30,000 yuan. loss.
3. Oriental Good Place Infringement Case
Oriental Good Place is a travel and vacation company that is suspected of infringing on the Disney Company's "Disney" trademark in its marketing advertisements. The court found that Oriental Good Place used Disney’s image and trademark in its marketing promotions, which could easily lead people to mistakenly believe that it is related to Disney, thus causing damage to Disney’s goodwill. In the end, the court ruled that Oriental Good Place needs to stop the infringement and compensate for economic losses of 600,000 yuan.
These cases show that trademark infringement can lead to consumer confusion and damage to brand reputation. Therefore, the use of trademarks must strictly abide by legal regulations to avoid violating relevant laws and causing unnecessary losses.