May 29, 2012

On the afternoon of May 16th, Watson&Band successfully held the 6th “China Law Salon-Analysis on Trademark Dispute Cases and New Trends of Trademark Trials”. Nearly 30 Chinese and Japanese directors of Japanese enterprises, their subsidiary companies and relevant Japanese organizations in Shanghai were invited to attend.

Our partner lawyer Gehui Gao presided over the salon, and our senior partner lawyer Xu Shenmin delivered the welcoming speech. The salon was presented in the form of a Chinese speech with Japanese interpretation on site.

Watson&Band senior partner lawyer Jean Yang acted as the keynote speaker of the salon. Lawyer Yang has successfully handled a large number of domestic and foreign cases including the company’s trademark infringement litigation, copyright litigation, commercial dispute and contract dispute and has accumulated affluent litigation practice experience and proficient litigation skills. Meanwhile, she has also acted as the chief attorney for Coca-cola (China) Limited and Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co.,Ltd in a trademark infringement case brought forth by a Shanghai company  and received favorable judgment in both the first , second instance and retrial proceeding. The China Law Salon was divided into 3 parts. In the first part, Lawyer Jean Yang introduced 2 trademark cases involing two multinationals as defendants, one of which is the widely concerned “ipad” trademark case and the other is the “Qoo” trademark case of Coca-cola represented by us. Lawyer Jean Yang analyzed the issues at dispute and the applicable laws of the appellate “ipad” case, which is being heard in Guangdong Higher People’s Court through an analysis on the facts of its trademark transfer process. This case is regarded as an intellectual property contract dispute rather than purely an ownership of intellectual property right or infringement dispute by legal professions. In this circumstance, Lawyer Yang suggested that the multinationals shall enlighten themselves from the “ipad” case, being fully aware of the importance of local legal services outside their own countries. In an intellectual property transaction such as a trademark transfer, they should inquire local lawyers for their professional advices and strictly follow the relevant procedures to avoid such kind of serious consequence.

In the second part, Lawyer Yang analyzed the similarities of “ipad” and “Qoo” Cases. With respect to the possible results of the cases, Lawyer Yang shared the cases successfully represented by her including “Qoo” cases of Coca-cola. The major issues at dispute in this case was whether the Chinese character trademark “酷兒”and“酷孩”are similar with each other and have caused any misrecognition or confusion to the relevant public. In this case, Lawyer Yang achieved a favorable judgment from the court of first instance, appeal and retrial. 

In the third part, Lawyer Yang introduced the new trends of trademark trials of Chinese court through the judicial interpretations issued by Supreme People’s Court as well as the 10 most influential intellectual property cases.

Mr. Aimin Sun, Watson & Band’s one of  senior counselors and arbitrator of the Shanghai Arbitration Commission (who also acted as a judge of economic division and Vice Director-General of the Intellectual Property Division of Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, etc.) answered questions raised by the guests participating in the salon and shared with them the issues to be noticed for enterprises as the transferee of intellectual property rights including patent and trademarks, the established standard of fraud, malicious preemptive registration, and free ride in the hearing trademark contract and trademark infringement cases.

In this year, Watson & Band will continue to host special seminars. Representatives from companies in all industries, if interested in the topic, are warmly welcome to contact us. For relevant information, please check the news column on W&B's website.