HongFangLaw Case on Rejection Review of Trademark “發育寶-S” was Awarded “Excellent Case Award”
The 2017 China Trademark Festival (“CTF”) was held in Guilin, Guangxi from September 2 to 4, 2017. As one of the CTF’s highlights, the 2016-2017 “Excellent Trademark Cases” were unveiled at the Forum on Typical Trademark Case Review and Analysis on September 3. The event at its fourth session has contributed much to improving trademark agencies’ service via the promotion of typical cases as guidance to the industry.
This year, 93 cases involving trademarks in 11 Classes were submitted to the China Trademark Association by enterprises, trademark agencies and law firms. Among those cases, 14 had been filed for rejection review, 1 for cancellation review, 21 for invalidation, 13 for objection, and 2 for objection review. Cases of administrative litigation were also many. In this area, 6 arose from disputes over rejection review, 6 over cancellation review, 11 over invalidation, and 6 over objection review. There are also 9 civil cases on trademark infringement and unfair competition, and 4 on trademark infringement only. In the end, 21 “Excellent Cases” arose from the pool after review on each case regarding six criteria: typicality, influence, exemplariness, innovativeness, practicality, and referentiality.
HFL’s case on rejection review of the trademark “發育寶-S” had the honor to be one of the chosen cases.
The case was rewarded for winning the rejection review by convincing the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board that long-term and widespread advertising and use of the subject trademark has made the source of its designated goods identifiable by the relevant public via the mark. Therefore, the mark can be deemed to have obtained distinguishing features required of a registrable mark even if it inherently does not have any. The TRAB’s decision is pursuant to Article 11 Paragraph 2 of the Trademark Law, “The signs mentioned in the preceding paragraph may be registered as trademarks after they have acquired distinctiveness and become easily distinguishable through use.”
If you would like some more personalized review of the event from us, please kindly let us know by writing to:?public.relation@hongfanglaw.com. Thank you.
