The litigation team of Chispo Law Firm ("Chispo") sued Trademark Review and Adjudication Board ("TRAB") concerning the appeal of refusal concerning the trademark in the first-instance litigation, on behalf of the plaintiff, Beijing Easy Customization Network Technology Co., Ltd ("Easy Customization "). Upon examination, the Beijing intellectual Property Court has determined ruled that this case be retried. It is The court has supported the plaintiff's claim at the end.

-- Introduction of the Case

The plaintiff filed the application of the disputed trademark in respect of the goods of "clothing, etc" in Class 25 on October, 29, 2015, of which the application number is 18187903.
The defendant has rejected the application of the disputed trademark based on the grounds of being similar to the cited mark on March 30, 2017.
 
-- Judgment points

The Chinese characters "Duo Shao" are the distinguishing part of the trademark in dispute, while the cited mark is the pure word mark "Duo Shao". Hence, the two trademarks constitute similar trademarks according to Article 30 of the Trademark Law.
However, during the trial of the case, the cited mark has been revoked in accordance with the law and no longer becomes a right obstacle to the registration of the disputed trademark on the re-examined goods. Based on the principle of change of circumstances, the defendant should reconfirm whether the disputed trademark should be registered.
In summary, the court revoked the accused decision.
 
 

-- Lawyer Comments

This case is a common problem of similarity comparison in trademark law cases.  After the trademark in dispute was rejected by the Trademark Office, our trademark attorney has formulated corresponding litigation strategies and litigation plans, and suggest revoking the cited trademark in order to successfully get the registration of the disputed trademark. The successful registration of a disputed trademark is of course not limited to the method of withdrawing the cited trademark. In practice, there are many solutions to successfully register the disputed trademark.
This case also reminds us that trademark applications must be applied for as early as possible. The number of trademark applications in China has risen to new highs year after year. Most trademarks are composed of words, limited words make it more and more difficult to register the new trademark. The legitimate rights and interests of the parties cannot be effectively protected by law with a brand not registered, it will probably result in irreparable losses.