As the most influential, representative and controversial "color lawsuit" in China, a conclusion has finally been reached. Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao can enjoy the rights and interests of the packaging and decoration of "Red Pot Wang Laoji Herbal Tea" without harming the legitimate interests of others.
Today, The Supreme People's Law publicly pronounced two cases of the appellant Guangdong Jiaduobao Beverage & Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiaduobao Company"), the appellees Guangzhou Wanglaoji Big Health Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dajian Company") and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group"):
Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group and Jiaduobao Company both made important contributions to the formation of the packaging and decoration rights of the "red pot Wanglaoji Herbal Tea" involved.
since the trademark dispute in 211, two herbal tea companies, Jiaduobao and Wanglaoji, have launched numerous lawsuits. So, in recent years, what are the lawsuits of the two companies, and what are the results? Here is an inventory for you.
Trademark dispute
In p>1995
As the trademark holder of Wang Laoji, GPHL leased the production and sales right of Wang Laoji, a red jar, to Jiaduobao.
In p>1997
GPHL signed a trademark licensing contract with Hong Kong Hongdao Group, the parent company of Jiaduobao.
in p>2
the two parties signed a contract for the second time, stipulating that the lease period of Wang Laoji trademark by Hongdao Group will expire on May 2, 21.
from p>21 to 23
Li Yimin, vice chairman and general manager of GPHL, bribed Chen Hongdao, chairman of Hongdao Group, to sign two "supplementary agreements": Hongdao Group was allowed to extend the production and operation right of "Red Canned Wang Laoji" until 22.
On August 3th, 21,
GPHL sent a lawyer's letter to Hongdao Group, complaining that the two supplementary agreements signed by Li Yimin were invalid.
in April p>211
Guangzhou Pharmaceutical filed an arbitration request with Maozhong, and provided relevant materials. In May, the trademark case of Wang Laoji was filed.
On May 11th, 212,
The supplementary agreement of the arbitration award was invalid, and Jiaduobao stopped using the trademark "Wang Lao Ji".
On May 17th, 212,
Jiaduobao filed a petition with Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court to cancel the arbitration award.
On July 13th, 212
Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court ruled that Jiaduobao banned the trademark of Wang Laoji.
In p>214,
GPHL filed a lawsuit with the Guangdong Provincial High Court, demanding that six Jiaduobao companies, including Guangdong Jiaduobao Beverage & Food Co., Ltd., be ordered to infringe the registered trademark of GPHL "Wang Lao Ji", resulting in economic losses of GPHL of 1 billion yuan, and then the original compensation amount of 1 billion yuan was changed to 2.9 billion yuan. Subsequently, Six Jiaduobao filed a counterclaim with the Guangdong Higher People's Court, requesting the Guangdong Higher People's Court to order: GPHL compensated Six Jiaduobao for its economic loss of 1 billion yuan; The counterclaim costs shall be borne by GPHL.
In May p>215,
Guangdong Higher People's Court issued a ruling, which rejected the case that six Jiaduobao companies, including Guangdong Jiaduobao Food Co., Ltd., counterclaimed GPHL for 1 billion yuan for the trademark use right of "Wang Lao Ji". Jiaduobao then appealed to the Supreme Court.
On November 9, 215,
the Supreme People's Court issued a ruling that the counterclaims filed by six Jiaduobao companies did not meet the admissibility conditions, rejected Jiaduobao's appeal and upheld the original judgment.
Red can dispute
In July, 212, Jiaduobao sued Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court for infringement of Jiaduobao's rights by the design of Wang Laoji, a newly released red can of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.
A few days later, GPHL sued Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for the design infringement of Jiaduobao red canned herbal tea. The Supreme Law combined the two cases and submitted them to the Guangdong High Court for trial.
On May 15th, 213, Guangdong High Court held a hearing on the case of "Red Pot Dispute" between GPHL and Jiaduobao.
On December 19th, 214, Wang Laoji won the case, and Jiaduobao was awarded 15 million yuan in compensation and stopped using and destroying all red can products involved in infringement.
On June 16th, 215, the Supreme Court held a public hearing to jointly hear two cases of the appellant Guangdong Jiaduobao Beverage & Food Co., Ltd. and the appellees Guangzhou Wanglaoji Dajian Health Industry Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. for unauthorized use of unique packaging and decoration of well-known commodities.
On June 23rd, 215, Wang Laoji claimed that five additional Jiaduobao companies were co-defendants.
On December 21st, 215, GPHL sued Jiaduobao to Daxing Court, claiming that the packaging of Jiaduobao beverage was similar to that of Wang Laoji, and demanded that Jiaduobao stop the infringement and compensate for the loss of 3 million yuan.
Debate on Advertising Language
Case Summary: On November 3, 212, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group filed a lawsuit with Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on the grounds that the advertising language of Jiaduobao Company's "Red Canned Herbal Tea with Leading Sales Volume in China was renamed as Jiaduobao" involved false propaganda and constituted unfair competition, claiming 1 million yuan, and at the same time applied to the court for an injunction to stop using sub-advertising language. In January 213, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court issued a lawsuit injunction, ruling that Jiaduobao immediately stopped using the above advertising language.
Judgment result: Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court made a judgment in the first instance, ruling that the advertising slogans such as Jiaduobao's "Red Canned Herbal Tea with the leading sales volume in China was renamed as Jiaduobao" were false propaganda, and all the propaganda should be withdrawn, and at the same time, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group should be compensated for 1 million losses and apologize publicly.
Fear of getting angry and drinking Wang Laoji
Case summary: In July 212, Jiaduobao took Wang Laoji to court for allegedly unfair competition on the slogan "Fear of getting angry and drinking Jiaduobao".
verdict: in December, 213, Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People's Court heard the case and rejected Jiaduobao's claim.
Case summary: In March, 214, Wang Laoji sued Jiaduobao for allegedly unfair competition, and the case was heard in Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court. Wang Laoji claimed 5 million yuan from Jiaduobao and its distributors.
verdict: on December 3, 215, the Guangzhou intermediate people's court ruled in the first instance that the slogan "I'm afraid of getting angry" is exclusive to the brand of Wang Laoji, and Jiaduobao must immediately stop using the slogan and compensate Wang Laoji for the economic loss of 5 million yuan.
China sells 7 cans of Jiaduobao for every 1 cans of herbal tea
Case summary: In August, 213, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical sued Jiaduobao and two retailers, such as "China sells 7 cans of Jiaduobao for every 1 cans of herbal tea", which was suspected of false propaganda and constituted unfair competition, and requested the court to make an injunction.
verdict: on November 17, 214, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court issued a verdict, and in the first instance, it ruled that three advertisements of Jiaduobao, "For every 1 cans of herbal tea sold in China, 7 cans of Jiaduobao, for fear of getting angry, more people will drink Jiaduobao, and of course more people will drink it with authentic formula", were false advertisements, and it also ruled that Jiaduobao cancelled the original advertisement and compensated Wang Laoji for 5 million yuan, and made a public statement in several media.
On March 8, 216, Guangdong Higher People's Court made a second-instance judgment, dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
jiaduobao won the "seven consecutive championships" in China canned beverage market
Case summary: In June 214, Wang Laoji occupied the commodity birth of Wang Laoji herbal tea with jiaduobao's "the first canned tea in China for seven consecutive years" and "the jiaduobao herbal tea won the seven consecutive championships in China canned beverage market" and similar advertising contents or expressions, which constituted false propaganda. Bring a lawsuit to Beijing No.3 Intermediate People's Court, demanding that the defendant stop the infringement, publicly apologize, and compensate for the loss of 2 million yuan and the reasonable cost of safeguarding rights of 1 million yuan.
verdict: in December, 214, Beijing No.3 Intermediate People's Court ruled in the first instance that "herbal tea won the first canned beverage in China for seven consecutive years" and "Jiaduobao herbal tea won the seventh consecutive canned beverage market in China" constituted false propaganda, and ordered Jiaduobao to stop the infringement and compensate Wang Laoji for 3 million yuan. Subsequently, Jia Duobao filed an appeal, which was accepted by the Beijing Higher People's Court. On July 23, 215, the final judgment of Beijing High Court upheld the original judgment.
From the previous inventory, we can easily see that Jiaduobao and Wang Laoji have loved each other for many years, and in the process, Wang Laoji almost won an overwhelming victory. The final verdict of the Supreme People's Court, for the first time, ruled that both parties can enjoy the unique packaging and decoration rights of the well-known commodities involved.
the Supreme People's Court pointed out in the final judgment that the intellectual property system is to guarantee and encourage innovation. Workers' behavior of creating and accumulating social wealth by honest labor and honest management shall be protected by law. Judicial protection of intellectual property rights should take maintaining an orderly, standardized, fair and dynamic market environment as its own responsibility, and provide clear legal expectations for the public. Intellectual property disputes often arise under the complicated historical and realistic background, and the division of rights and interests and the balance of interests are often intertwined. To deal with this kind of disputes, we need to fully consider and respect the historical causes of disputes, the current situation of use, consumers' cognition and other factors, take maintaining honesty and credit and respecting objective reality as the basic principles, strictly follow the guidance of the law, and solve disputes fairly and reasonably.
based on the above position and basic principles, the Supreme People's Court confirms that both parties can enjoy the unique packaging and decoration rights of the well-known commodities involved without harming the legitimate interests of others. Both GPHL and Jiaduobao have made positive contributions to the accumulation of the brand goodwill of "Wang Lao Ji". While effectively enhancing the visibility of enterprises, it has also gained huge market benefits. However, after the termination of the trademark licensing relationship of "Wang Lao Ji", the intellectual property disputes between the two parties continued and the amount involved was huge, which caused some concerns and worries of the public and may also damage the social evaluation of enterprises. In this regard, the two sides should fulfill the judgment in good faith in the spirit of mutual understanding and reasonable avoidance, uphold the due social responsibility of enterprises, cherish the operating results, respect the trust of consumers, and strive to make national brands bigger and stronger and provide consumers with better products with honest, trustworthy and standardized market behavior.