KFC, as one of the global chain of fast food restaurants, mainly sells high-calorie fast food such as fried chicken, burgers, French fries, egg tarts, and soda. Because of its texture and special taste, it has a reputation built over many years of operation, so it has fans of all ages. To be fair, a large company like KFC has always been able to protect its trademarks with ease, but recently it has faced rejection of some trademarks when registering trademarks.

Because trademark registration usually takes a long time, the relevant trademark was registered in 2016. In this year, KFC submitted an application for registration of the "KFC Home Delivery" trademark, specifying its use in Class 39 "delivery of goods, delivery of mail-order goods, express delivery services (letters or commodities)" and class 43 "restaurants, banquet preparations, cafes, teahouses, fast food restaurants, cafeterias" and other goods or services.

However, it was not approved after the review as expected. Instead, it was partially rejected during the review process. After that, KFC applied to the State Intellectual Property Office for review. The State Intellectual Property Office determined that the registration application for the designated use of the "KFC Home Delivery" trademark on Class 43 services will be preliminarily approved, and the registration application designated for use on Class 39 services will be rejected.

KFC was dissatisfied and subsequently filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. The Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled to revoke the sued decision made by the State Intellectual Property Office and ordered the State Intellectual Property Office to make a new decision. After the first-instance judgment was made, the State Intellectual Property Office was dissatisfied and appealed to the Beijing High Court, requesting that the first-instance judgment be revoked and the sued decision be upheld. KFC obeys the first-instance judgment.

After the final trial by the Beijing High Court, the first-instance judgment was revoked, KFC’s claim was dismissed, and the State Intellectual Property Office won the second-instance case. In other words, the "KFC Home Delivery" trademark registered by KFC can be used in Category 43 but cannot be used in Category 39. This will indeed be more difficult for transportation such as "Home Delivery".

So after the trademark class registration is rejected, will it be no longer possible to use this category? It is true that using a trademark in an unapproved category is likely to cause trademark infringement, but if the company can use the trademark in the market and be recognized by most consumers without causing confusion about the trademark, it may be possible to re-register it. Try this trademark and upgrade it to a well-known trademark.