Why did GPHL get the upper hand in the previous legal game
As an intellectual property lawyer, my revision of this case is a bit disappointing, because in the previous lawsuit, it was not too much to describe Jiaduobao as "losing all my pants": the trademark authorization contract was invalidated and the trademark license was lost; Trademark infringement litigation was awarded huge compensation; The slogan "Afraid of getting angry" was awarded to Guangyao; Advertising slogans such as "The leading red pot of herbal tea in China is renamed as Jiaduobao", "Every 1 cans of herbal tea are sold in China, and 7 cans of Jiaduobao" are sentenced to false propaganda and unfair competition, and so on.
According to the previous trend, it may be reasonable for Jiaduobao to lose the second trial of this case, because GPHL is the authorized party. In the intellectual property game, the common sense is that the licensor will be more dominant. Because the right belongs to the licensor, in order to get the authorization, the user must accept the cooperation conditions of the licensor, and the authorization of intellectual property rights has a deadline. Considering that the licensor may not renew the contract when it expires, the user will generally be more accommodating to the licensor.
There are three core reasons that may be involved in the Supreme Court's judgment
1. The taste is closer to the essence of herbal tea products than the brand
According to the provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the packaging and decoration right of red canned herbal tea involved in this case is actually divided into two concepts, the right of red canned herbal tea as a well-known commodity and the packaging and decoration right of well-known commodities.
the core issue of the case dispute is, where does the famous commodity right of red pot herbal tea belong? Guangyao believes that the well-known commodity rights should be owned by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, the authorized party of Wang Laoji trademark, while Jiaduobao believes that consumers are coming for the taste of herbal tea, and Jiaduobao holds the formula of "Red Canned Wang Laoji Herbal Tea" (at present, this formula is still not mastered by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group), and the well-known commodity rights of red canned herbal tea should be owned by Jiaduobao. This issue is not clearly defined by law.
to be fair, jiaduobao's reason is dominant, because the taste of the product is closer to the essence of the product than the brand. Intellectual property rights are not like property rights, but rights created to encourage innovation, and a piece of cake is given to intellectual property rights holders from social interests. Therefore, the public's cognition and consumers' rights and interests should be the most important criteria for judging intellectual property cases with unclear legal provisions.
The original red pot Wang Laoji herbal tea produced by Jiaduobao is the mainstream product in the market, indicating that consumers are more receptive to its taste, and the consumer's acceptance is of course one of the reasons why the product is famous. Now, if the trademark owner withdraws his authorization, if he is not allowed to produce red pot herbal tea, consumers may not be able to obtain products that are more in line with their taste, which is obviously not in line with public cognition and consumer interests.
2. Jiaduobao has successfully distinguished the red cans from the green boxes of Wang Laoji products before
All intellectual property users are weak in the face of the licensors, and their most painful moment is not the lost moment after the authorization expires, but the moment when the licensee raises the asking price when negotiating the renewal of the authorization. Therefore, some users will make another similar product with their own intellectual property rights, and if the license expires without renewal, they will invest their original business resources in their own products. Others will try many ways to bind themselves with the intellectual property rights of the licensor in their operations, and if the licensor does not renew the contract with themselves, they will pay high costs.
the most successful move of jiaduobao is to bind the packaging and decoration of red cans with Wang laoji. There were two kinds of Wang Laoji herbal tea on the market before, namely the red jar of Jiaduobao and the green box of Guangyao. This may be the best business model design that Jiaduobao has ever done, and it may even be better than only red cans without green boxes. Because this can distinguish the products with their own tastes from those with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical tastes. This design is obviously successful. Although the Supreme Court ruled that both parties enjoy the packaging and decoration of red cans, as the operator who lost the brand, he should have nothing, but now he can use the packaging and decoration of Wang Laoji, which is undoubtedly a great victory for Jiaduobao.
3. The new judicial policy that pays attention to the equality of market participants
The new judicial policy that protects all kinds of market participants equally is obviously one of the reasons for the change of judgment. On the same day that the Jiaduobao case was pronounced, the Supreme People's Court also issued "Several Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Providing Judicial Protection for Improving the Business Environment", which stipulated that all kinds of market entities should be equally protected according to law, fully implement the work requirements of equally protecting different ownership entities, market entities in different regions and interest entities in different industries, adhere to the principles of equal legal status, equal rights protection and equal development opportunities for all kinds of market entities, and promote the formation of an equal, orderly and dynamic business environment ruled by law. In other words, the Jiaduobao case may become a typical case of equal protection of different ownership subjects.
finally, talk about the impact of the case on the licensor and user of intellectual property rights. Unlike trademark right, which is a strong legal right, the right of packaging and decoration of well-known products is more similar to rights and interests, and it will generally be confirmed after the infringement is discovered in court. When trademark infringement is found, the obligee can complain to the industrial and commercial bureau and crack down on the infringement quickly. At the same time, parallel to the right of packaging and decoration of well-known products are the copyright of product packaging and decoration design in Copyright Law, the patent right of appearance design in Patent Law and the three-dimensional trademark right in Trademark Law.
therefore, this case may not have a great impact on the industry authorized by intellectual property rights. As far as the licensor is concerned, it should ask a lawyer to modify the standard version of the license contract as soon as possible, and stipulate that the well-known commodity rights and corresponding packaging and decoration rights arising from the license contract belong to the licensor. For users, they should apply for parallel intellectual property rights for packaging and decoration as much as possible, including but not limited to design copyright registration, design patents and three-dimensional trademarks, so as to facilitate the game with the licensor.