Trademark Acquisition through Retrial Procedures by Supreme Court
Trademark Acquisition through Retrial Procedures by Supreme Court
Co-Author: Walker Xu, Joffy Li
Progressive Components International Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Progressive Co.”) is the owner of trademarks such as “CVe LIVE” and “CVe ON DEMAND”. To maximize brand protection, Progressive Co. has entrusted HongFangLaw (HFL) to apply for the registration of the above trademarks in China. Unfortunately, the applications for registration of the above trademarks were refused by the National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). For this reason, HFL helped our client in raising a review of the refused trademarks and further proceeding with administrative and judicial procedures, such as the lawsuits to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court and Beijing Higher People’s Court.
Beijing Higher People’s Court made the final judgment that the applications for registration of the above trademarks applied by Progressive Co. did not render support. The reason why progressive Co.’s trademarks involved in these cases were not approved for registration was due to the existence of some specific prior trademark rights obstacles. In this respect, works to remove rights obstacles also began in April 2017 while striving for the possibility in proceedings of refusal review, first and second court trials.
After more than two years of hard work, in June 2019, HFL received an official decision, which revoked a key obstacle that prevented Progressive Co.’s trademark registration application. More than nine months have passed since the final judgment of the second instance of the trademarks involved. With regard to the non-support judgment issued by Beijing Higher People’s Court, HFL further provided the legal advice, and Progressive Co. was in favor of it. Thereupon, HFL was entrusted by Progressive Co. filed a retrial application with the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China. And the Supreme People’s Court accepted the retrial case, decided to bring the case up for a trial, and made a ruling according to the law.
On June 24, 2020, the Supreme People’s Court rendered an administrative ruling (No. 230 & 231 [2020], Retrial, Administrative, SPC) that the decision of the refusal review and the Judgments of the first and second instance concerning the above trademarks shall be set aside, which fully supported the requests posed by HFL. Progressive Co. secured the trademark rights in China over its trademarks “CVe LIVE” and “CVe ON DEMAND”.Progressive Co.’s trademark registration application was filed in June 2016, and it has been four years since then. It’s progressive Co.’s strong faith to protect its own intellectual property rights and trust to HFL’s services, which ensured the final victory of these cases.
