CRI听力:China Forbids Free Riding against Famous Brand Names

Internet search engine firm Baidu has won a lawsuit with the Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, requiring the latter to revoke the patent right of Shenzhen Yelaixiang Company who use Baidu as condom brand. Liu Yanfeng is the attorney of Baidu.

"The package of the condom uses blue, white and red colors, which are exactly the same as the homepage of the Baidu search engine."

He also points out that the company in Shenzhen uses the identical letterform and almost the same logo as Baidu Inc.

The court judges that the Trademark Appeal Board revoked patent rights, because people are likely to associate the condom with the famous web services company, thus confusing customers and damaging the interests of the search engine company.

Likewise, the court has said no in another case where someone wanted to register the trade mark "Bei Da Zhuang Yuan" to sell shoes, ties and clothes. In Chinese, "Bei Da" means Peking University, and "Zhuang Yuan" refers to the person who came top in the imperial examinations in ancient China. However, Peking University registered "Bei Da" as its own clothing brand in 2002. According to China's Trade Mark Law, a trademark that is applied for which is for identical or similar goods shall not be registered and its use is be prohibited.

Jiang Ying is the presiding judge of the two cases in question. She says that free-riding against well-known brand names is rampant in China.

"We have handled many similar cases, such as the milk brand Yi Li registered as toilet fixtures, and Meng Niu registered as a liquor brand."

The Shenzhen Yelaixiang Company has also registered several other names of famous companies as well as its condom brands, such as Alibaba, Nike and Nestle.
Jiang Ying says such behavior is quite inadvisable and shortsighted.

"I think the companies should have a long term plan when they register a trade mark. They should avoid reproducing or imitating other brands. The more different your trade mark is from others, the easier it is for the customers to identify yours. Therefore, you can establish yourself and put your company in an invulnerable position in future competition."

Jiang Ying explains that free riding against famous brand names is forbidden in China, and violators will face hefty fines. For example, Meng Niu Liquor has been ordered to pay four million yuan to the milk company.

For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao.