Recently, Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Management Co., Ltd. sued 14 companies including Beijing Sankuai Technology Co., Ltd. and Guizhou Green Tea Catering Management Co., Ltd., the operators of Meituan.com, on the grounds of trademark infringement and unfair competition. They went to the court and requested that the above-mentioned company be ordered to immediately stop infringement and compensate for economic losses of 8.35 million yuan.

What’s going on? The company that sued Meituan is Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company. It is the registrant of the GREENTEA trademark, and the registration category is Category 43 (cafeterias, restaurants). wait). However, Guizhou Green Tea Catering Company used the registered trademark for catering services without its permission, and also copied the decoration style, table and chair styles, and menu colors of Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company. Seeing this, my friends are Are you wondering what this has to do with Meituan? Meituan was pulled out because Guizhou Green Tea Catering Company launched group buying on Meituan.com.

Guizhou Green Tea Catering Company used its registered trademark "Green Tea Restaurant GREENTEA" in catering services without the permission of Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company, and also deliberately imitated its iconic elements to confuse the public. It is not difficult to understand that it infringes upon the exclusive trademark rights of Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company. However, Meituan.com, as a third-party online ordering platform, only provides a platform for Guizhou Green Tea Catering Company to "show itself". Will it also be "sitting" together and bear the responsibility for trademark infringement?

To answer this question, we should first clarify what trademark infringements are stipulated in the Trademark Law.

The "Trademark Law" stipulates that any of the following acts shall infringe the exclusive right of a registered trademark:

(1) Using the same product on the same product without the permission of the trademark registrant Using a trademark that is the same as its registered trademark;

(2) Using a trademark that is similar to its registered trademark on the same product without the permission of the trademark registrant, or using its registered trademark on similar products Identical or similar trademarks that are likely to cause confusion;

(3) Selling goods that infringe the exclusive rights of registered trademarks;

(4) Forging or creating without authorization the registered trademark logo of others or Selling counterfeit or unauthorized registered trademark signs;

(5) Changing the registered trademark without the consent of the trademark registrant and putting the goods with the changed trademark back on the market;

(6) Intentionally providing facilities for infringement of the exclusive rights of others’ trademarks and helping others to infringe the exclusive rights of trademarks;

(7) Causing other damage to others’ exclusive rights to registered trademarks.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned provisions on infringement of the exclusive rights of registered trademarks that Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company most likely sued Meituan.com for "infringement of trademark rights" in accordance with the provisions of Article 6. the dock. So, how should we understand the content of Article 6? The so-called "deliberately providing convenient conditions for infringement of other people's trademark rights" refers to providing conditions such as warehousing, transportation, mailing, concealment, etc., so as to help others complete the infringement of trademark rights. right behavior. To determine whether Meituan’s behavior constitutes trademark infringement, we must first determine whether Meituan’s behavior is subjective and intentional.

If you know that a merchant has infringed on the trademark rights of others, but still provide platform services or help to the merchant, then Meituan’s behavior can constitute trademark infringement. On the contrary, it is difficult to conclude that its actions constitute trademark infringement. This behavior also constitutes trademark infringement. Secondly, we must determine what role Meituan played in the entire incident. Meituan must first negotiate with merchants offline to determine the content of group purchases, and then push the information to consumers for consumption. If it is determined that Meituan.com assumes part of the tasks of the seller in the group buying process, then Meituan.com may constitute trademark infringement by selling goods that infringe the exclusive rights of registered trademarks.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that Meituan.com is not unjustly sent to the defendant's seat in the trademark infringement case. Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company is also actively safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests. Of course, the prerequisite for Hangzhou Green Tea Catering Company to protect its rights is to protect its trademark. If your company does not want to be copied, you must apply for registration of the trademark you use in advance. Trademark infringement