The Higher People's Court of Hunan Province issued the White Paper on Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and ten typical cases, including Chengdu Ant Logistics Co., Ltd. v. Changsha Ant Moving Co., Ltd. for trademark infringement. According to the trial results, Changsha Ant Moving Co., Ltd. does not constitute infringement.
1996 Chengdu Ant Logistics Co., Ltd. was established, and the words "ant" and "ant moving" and ant patterns were on the company's transport vehicles. In 2000, the company applied for registration of the trademark "Ant". 20 12 company applied for registration of "ant moving" trademark, and its services included moving, logistics and transportation. The registration period is from February 20 14 to February 3, 2024 13.
To their surprise, there is a company called Changsha Ant Moving Co., Ltd., whose business scope is also moving and transportation. The company used the words "ants move" and ant patterns on its transport vehicles, and also advertised "ants move and serve home". Therefore, Chengdu Ant Logistics Company sued Changsha Ant Moving Co., Ltd. to the court, requesting an order to stop the infringement and compensate for the losses.
Changsha Ant Moving Company argued that it was established as early as 2002, ten years earlier than Chengdu Ant Logistics Company applied for the registration of the trademark "Ant Moving", when the company used "Ant Moving" as its corporate abbreviation. The company said that the use of "ant moving" on its transport vehicles was earlier than the announcement date of the trademark "ant moving" of the other party.
Changsha Intermediate People's Court held that Changsha Ant Moving Company used "Ant Moving" much earlier than the application date of the trademark "Ant Moving" involved. Since its establishment, the company has formed a certain scale in Changsha, and "ant moving" has become the call of industry associations, which has a certain degree of recognition and conforms to the provisions of the Trademark Law on "certain influence", and its use area is within the original scope. Therefore, Changsha Ant Moving Company's use of "Ant Moving" conforms to the provisions of prior use of trademarks and can continue to use it within the "original scope" without corresponding tort liability. However, in order to prevent confusion, appropriate signs should be attached when using "ants moving".
The court held that Changsha Ant Moving Company used the words "ant moving" in transportation vehicles and publicity slogans, which constituted trademark use. The logo of "Ant Moving" used by Changsha Ant Moving Company is basically the same as the registered trademark of Chengdu Ant Logistics Co., Ltd. ... The behavior of Changsha Ant Moving Company conforms to the stipulation of "using the same trademark on the same commodity without the permission of the trademark registrant" stipulated in the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC).
However, according to the regulations, before the trademark registrant applies for trademark registration, if someone else has used a trademark that is the same as or similar to the registered trademark and has certain influence before the trademark registrant, the exclusive right holder of a registered trademark has no right to prohibit the user from continuing to use the trademark within the original scope of use, but may require him to attach an appropriate distinguishing mark.
Here, Bian Xiao also reminds everyone that the popularity and reputation of a trademark embodies the hard work of the enterprise for many years, and its value is formed by various factors such as advertising, product quality, sales volume and after-sales service quality. For enterprises, the formation of trademarks often means a stable market and higher profits. In the field of trademarks, unregistered trademarks may damage the reputation of their own enterprises, and may also fail to safeguard the legitimate economic interests of enterprises. If you don't know much about the trademark registration process, you can consult Bajie Intellectual Property Trademark Transfer Network.