On April 16, 2020, the Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court ruled for New Balance Trading (China) Co., Ltd. (新百伦贸易（中国）有限公司, hereinafter New Balance) against Niu Ba Lun (China) Co., Ltd. (纽巴伦（中国）有限公司, hereinafter, New Barlun), awarding 10.8 million RMB (about $1.53 million USD) for unfair competition.
Category: Trademarks
Beijing Fines Alibaba for Malicious Registration of Coronavirus Chinese Trademarks
In an unpublished decision, on March 31, 2020, the Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision Administration fined Alibaba Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. an undisclosed amount in 京朝市监工罚（2020）230号 for attempting to register multiple coronavirus-related trademarks in China on behalf of several applicants. Alibaba was acting as a trademark agent knowingly (or should have known) in violation of circumstances specified in Articles 15 and 32 of the Trademark Law. The maximum fine that can be imposed is 100,000 RMB (about $14,000).
Michael Jordan Prevails in Eight-Year Trademark Battle at China’s Supreme People’s Court
In a long-running dispute with Qiaodan Sports Co., Ltd., Michael Jordan recently prevailed at China’s Supreme People’s Court in revoking a trademark for “Qiaodan and Device” (Qiaodan is the transliteration of Jordan into Chinese). The China National Intellectual Property Office (CNIPA) must now reexamine the trademark in light of the Court’s ruling.
Trademark Applicant & Chinese IP Agency Fined for Malicious Registration of Coronavirus Related Trademarks
On March 26, 2020, the Shaoxing Market Supervision Bureau of Zhejiang Province fined a Chinese intellectual property firm, a trademark applicant and a trademark agent responsible for attempting to register a trademark for “Li Wenliang” (李文亮), a famous doctor that later succumbed to COVID-19 after earlier attempts to warn others of a possible new outbreak. Specifically, the Bureau fined applicant Yang Mofang, the agency Shaoxing Intellectual Property Agency Co., Ltd. and the trademark agent Chen Mougang 2,000 RMB, 20,000 RMB …