Recently, the SoYoung trademark infringement dispute that has been raging in the past six months has made new progress. At the beginning of this month, many media revealed that SoYoung’s main APP was banned from the Apple App Store due to lack of the right to use the Class 9 trademark. It has been removed from the shelves, and currently only the vest APP of “Sonova Micro Plastic Surgery” remains. Yesterday (December 13), Green Time, the other party in the SoYoung trademark dispute, publicly issued a statement listing a number of certificates and rulings confirming SoYoung’s trademark infringement, which aroused heated discussion in the industry.
From the beginning to the end of the dispute, SoYoung may have confused the difference between trademark deficiency and infringement
Starting from the second half of this year, the medical beauty service platform SoYoung has been exposed as its most important brand intangible assets "New Oxygen" failed to successfully register the 9th category software trademark, but Green Time, which specializes in online sales of green bonsai and potted plants, took the lead in completing the 9th category of "New Oxygen" software because it adheres to the concept of "fresh air, oxygen supply with love" Legal transfer of trademark.
Therefore, some insiders pointed out that SoYoung had huge hidden dangers in trademark use at that time. In fact, after SoYoung APP was removed from the shelves of the Apple Store at the beginning of this month, SoYoung also responded to the trademark infringement dispute. On the one hand, SoYoung admitted that the current Class 9 trademark "SoYoung" is indeed not in the hands of its own company, but its They believe that their own products not only enjoy the right to use the brand name "SoYoung", but also have a higher reputation. Green Time is a malicious registration, so the use of "SoYoung" on its own APP complies with legal regulations.
In fact, from Green Time’s tit-for-tat public statements, we can see that during the process of completing the legal transfer of its trademark, SoYoung applied to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for a "pre-transfer" The trademark “SoYoung” is invalid, but the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board ruled that SoYoung’s application was rejected. And the font size cannot be equated with the trademark. The font size corresponds to the company and is only used as the name of a company to distinguish different business entities in the market. The trademark corresponds to the goods or services and is used to distinguish them in the process of external display and publicity. different services or goods on the market.
It is understood that according to Article 56 of the "Trademark Law": the exclusive right of a registered trademark is limited to the approved registered trademark and the approved goods for use. Simply put, SoYoung’s SoYoung APP, as a product and service platform, has truly infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of Green Time, the holder of the Class 9 trademark “SoYoung”.
On the other hand, SoYoung stated in its own statement that the items covered by Class 9 trademarks in the Classification Table of the Trademark Law are physical goods, while SoYoung’s main business is medical cosmetology. Information services do not involve physical goods, so the lack of Class 9 trademarks will not affect the company's listing.
However, last year, the Trademark Office added "downloadable mobile application software (C090142)" to the 9th category 0901 of the "Table of Similar Trademarks and Service Classifications", which means that the Class 9 trademarks include the right to use mobile software, namely APP. More importantly, according to Article 37 of the issuance conditions in Chapter 2 of the "Measures for the Administration of Initial Public Offerings and Listing of Stocks": The issuer shall not have the following circumstances that affect continued profitability: 5) The issuer's trademarks, There is a risk of significant adverse changes in the acquisition or use of important assets or technologies such as patents, proprietary technologies and franchise rights. The use of the most basic logo by SoYoung Company in SoYoung APP, the most important business location, is an infringement. This is likely to fall under the provisions of the "Listing Management Measures" that there are significant adverse risks in the use of trademarks.
To some extent, comparing the statements of SoYoung and Green Time, SoYoung seems to have confused the difference between trademark loss and trademark infringement. The former may not be a big problem, as long as the trademark is completed in time Registration can solve the problem, but the problems faced by the latter are much more serious.
Three major pain points, why is Class 9 trademark infringement a big problem
It must be pointed out that compared to business registration, it usually only takes 10-15 working days to complete , trademark registration often takes more than a year from application to completion, so once a company fails to register in time, it may encounter disputes such as trademark squatting and infringement.
Judging from past cases, companies will face the following three major pain points after falling into the ninth category of trademark infringement disputes:
First, the product will be removed from the shelves, and SoYoung APP this time It was removed from the Apple Store precisely because Green Time, the holder of the Class 9 trademark "SoYoung", filed a duplication of name complaint with the Apple App Store after its SoYoung APP was launched. The Apple App Store responded to this type of problem in this way. The Trademark Law approves Class 9 trademarks as downloadable computer application software and computer programs (downloadable software) as arbitration standards.
Therefore, it is reasonable for the SoYoung APP, which has already been ruled by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to reject the trademark complaint and admitted that it does not own the Class 9 trademark "SoYoung", to be removed from the Apple App Store.
Second, when encountering a claim, given that the current dispute between SoYoung Company and Green Time has been effectively ruled by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, SoYoung Company’s statement stated that it has filed a claim with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board again. The trademark invalidation application has yet to have a clear result. So SoYoung is still in the dilemma of trademark infringement against Green Time, which means that the latter is likely to file a trademark infringement claim against SoYoung.
This is not without lessons learned. As early as 2001, Taiwan Proview registered the iPad trademark in multiple countries and regions, and its Shenzhen branch subsequently separately registered the iPad trademark in mainland China. When Apple first launched its iPad products into the Chinese market, it was directly sued by Shenzhen Proview for trademark infringement. It was not until Apple finally spent $60 million to buy the iPad trademark in mainland China that it was able to be launched in China.
Third, it is difficult to go public. In recent years, as the China Securities Regulatory Commission has become more and more strict about intellectual property rights, Jordan Sports, Jiangxi Tianshikang, Zhejiang Red Dragonfly... have failed to go public due to trademark disputes. Enterprise cases are common. The same is true for overseas capital markets. When encountering similar situations, investors will determine that there are substantial risks when stocks are issued, making it difficult to sell.
As mentioned above, according to the provisions of the "Administrative Measures for the Initial Public Offering and Listing of Stocks", SoYoung Company's current main business is to provide medical and cosmetic plastic surgery information services through SoYoung APP, and its APP has a trademark infringement problem, which has become the biggest threshold for its IPO.
Three ways to get rid of the dilemma of trademark deficiency and infringement as soon as possible
For now, the delisting of the APP highlights that SoYoung’s trademark infringement disputes are further erupting, although according to It stated that SoYoung once again applied for Trademark Review and Adjudication arbitration, but given that it has been rejected before, it is not without options even if it prepares for the worst. There are still three ways to get rid of the current predicament as soon as possible:
One is to directly purchase the trademark and reach a settlement with Green Time. According to Green Time’s statement, the Class 9 and Class 45 trademarks of “SoYoung” were also transferred from another company. The legal sale and transfer of trademarks can help SoYoung to properly solve the current problem, just like Apple solved the Ipad mainland trademark Regarding copyright issues, the advantage of this solution is that it saves time and effort, but the disadvantage is that it may require a considerable amount of money.
Second, file a lawsuit to apply for trademark rights protection. As early as the end of 2012, 115 Netdisk was sued by the "115" trademark holder for trademark infringement of Class 9 and Class 42, and encountered problems such as Yongyonghui and Anzhi. After being removed from many Android app stores, 115 Netdisk was finally re-listed in early 2014. However, the shortcomings of this solution are also obvious - it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to litigate.
Third, change the trademark and re-launch the product. In October 2014, the women's health app Xiyou was renamed "Meiyou" in the version updates of various platforms. This was because a company holding the "Xiyou" trademark issued a lawyer's letter asking the former to stop using the "Xiyou" trademark and Remove products from shelves. Xiyou, which has no registered trademarks in categories 9 and 41, had to announce its brand upgrade to "Meiyou" and launch a new version of the application.
Generally speaking, the trademark infringement dispute between SoYoung and Green Time has not yet ended. Both parties have different opinions and the dispute has become more and more intense. This has also raised concerns for other domestic startups and entrepreneurs. A reminder that a trademark is not only a business card, but also an intangible asset that cannot be lost. As the country pays more and more attention to the protection of intellectual property rights including trademarks, the penalties for similar infringement issues will become more and more severe. All companies must pay attention to the protection of intellectual property rights, including trademarks. Any omissions in trademark protection should be corrected, and if not, they should be strengthened.