The meaning of "game" is controversial.
2065438+On June 20th, 2007, Suning Company filed an application for trademark registration of "SNGAMING and TU" with the Trademark Office of the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the former Trademark Office). 2065438+March 2008, the former Trademark Office rejected the trademark registration application filed by Suning Company on the grounds that the "GAMING" in the disputed trademark can be translated as "gambling", and it is easy to have adverse effects when used on designated goods.
In this regard, Suning Company is not reconciled. It believes that the meaning of "GAMING" in the disputed trademark is "game", which will not have adverse effects when used in designated goods, and it has the meaning of "e-sports" when used in Suning e-sports club. Subsequently, Suning Company applied to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the former Trademark Review and Adjudication Board) for review. After trial, the original Trademark Review and Adjudication Board also decided to reject the application for trademark registration on the grounds that "gambling" can be translated into "gambling" and it is easy to have adverse effects.
20 18 12, Suning filed an administrative lawsuit in Beijing Intellectual Property Court, insisting that the word "GAMING" is included in the text of the trademark "SNGAMING and Map", which means not "gambling" but "e-sports", and it uses "gaming" as the English for "e-sports" when using the trademark.
If the Beijing Intellectual Property Court considers that the trademark logo or its constituent elements may have negative and negative effects on China's public interests and public order, it may be deemed as "other adverse effects" as stipulated in Item (8) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Trademark Law. In this case, the word "gambling" in the text of the trademark dispute case contains the meaning of "gambling", and its use in designated goods may have a negative and negative impact on China's social interests. When Suning Company uses litigation trademarks, it does not rule out that the word "gambling" contains the meaning of "gambling", which may still have a negative impact on China's social interests. In summary, the court rejected Suning's claim in the first instance.
Suning refused to accept the judgment of the first instance and later appealed to the Beijing Higher People's Court.
After trial, the Beijing Higher People's Court adopted the conclusions of the former Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and the Beijing Intellectual Property Court that the use of the disputed trademark on designated goods may have a negative impact on China's social interests and public order. At the same time, the Beijing Higher People's Court pointed out that when a trademark logo has multiple meanings or uses, if one of the meanings or uses is easy to make the public think that it belongs to the situation specified in Item (8) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Trademark Law, it can be determined that the trademark violates the provisions of this paragraph, and generally the use of the trademark is not considered. In this case, when using the disputed trademark, Suning Company intentionally made its actual use meaning irrelevant to "gambling", but it cannot be ruled out that the word "gambling" has the meaning of "gambling", and the disputed trademark may still have a negative impact on China's social interests and public order. In the end, the Beijing Higher People's Court did not support Suning's claim.
Experts analyze and solve doubts.
It is reported that at present, the official Weibo Head of Suning E-sports Club no longer uses the logo of "SNGAMING and TU", but replaces it with the logo of "Suning and TU". "The unsuccessful trademark registration is undoubtedly a great pity for Suning." Zhu Lixin, a lawyer of Beijing Hui Law Firm, said that Suning Company could foresee the risk that the English "GAMING" trademark with the meaning of "gambling" would not be registered because of JD.COM. COM's application for registration of the "JDGamingBook" trademark was also rejected for the same reason.
According to relevant English professionals, the English translation of "e-sports" is generally recognized as "ELECTRONICSPORTS" rather than "GAMING". Regarding the meaning of the word "gambling", Sun, a professor at the School of Law of Beihang University, believes that the word "game" has many meanings such as "games, sports, competitions and gambling", but the main meaning in English is "gambling". Some English dictionaries give two Chinese equivalents of "gaming" and "game", while the New English-Chinese Dictionary only gives one Chinese equivalent of "gaming", which means "gambling".
"With the vigorous development of online games in recent years,' e-sports' has a great influence among young people, but it has not reached the high penetration rate of traditional competitive sports such as football and basketball among consumers. Therefore, Suning's statement about the meaning of' gambling' in the disputed trademark is not sufficient and convincing, and naturally it cannot be supported by the court. " Sun added.
"Even if the use of the word' gaming' is understood as' e-sports' according to Suning's explanation, it is not appropriate to apply for registration as a significant part of the trademark logo. Because e-sports, as a common name of goods or services, can't get exclusive protection through trademark registration, that is to say, even if Suning successfully registered the' SNGAMING and TU' trademark, Suning can't prohibit others from using the commercial logo with the word' GAMING'. "Li-xin zhu said.
It is understood that before the judgment of the second instance of this case was made, Suning Company had applied to register the trademark "Suning and Tu" and actually used it in its official Weibo and other public places. "The significance of this new trademark is significantly higher than that of the disputed trademark. Moreover, due to Suning's extensive use of the' Suning' logo in other fields, it has gained a high reputation, and there is no prohibition of registration in the Trademark Law, including adverse effects. " Zhu Lixin said.
"There is indeed a broad understanding and interpretation of the application of Article 10, paragraph 1 (8) of China's Trademark Law, which is harmful to socialist morality or has other adverse effects." Sun said: "It is the duty of the state administrative organs and judicial organs to safeguard socialist morality and social interests. There are abundant resources that can be used as trademark elements. Therefore, applicants for trademark registration should remember not to touch the red line when applying for trademark registration. It is best to avoid words, graphics and other elements involving pornography, gambling and drugs. "
In a sense, the trademark war is more like a protracted war. Trademark has always been a competitive weapon for enterprises, and the strongest weapon for yourself is to obtain a registered trademark! Pay attention to the standardized use of trademarks, help enterprises safeguard trademark rights and interests, and give play to the advantages of brands in commodity economy! Details determine success or failure, and trademarks are of great significance to enterprises. Whether it is trademark transfer or trademark use, we should pay attention to these problems. For more details, please consult Bajie Intellectual Property Trademark Transfer Network!