On January 13, 2021, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) released a report entitled Trademarks and patents in China: The impact of non-market factors on filing trends and IP systems. The report covers patent and trademark filing trends in China and the United States and the non-markets factors (i.e., money) behind the filing trends. For example, China has reportedly adopted more than 70 subnational trademark subsidy measures, including measures for domestic and foreign applications and registrations. Further, all …
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Director of the China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
Accusation of Chinese Patent Infringement Leads to Slander Lawsuit Victory
In what can only be considered a really bad business decision, before the filing of a patent infringement lawsuit, Zhejiang KoBach Kitchenware Co., Ltd. (跳转至浙江巴赫厨具有限公司) accused Zhejiang Supor Co., Ltd. (浙江苏泊尔股份有限公司) of patent infringement in a full page advertisement in the Yangcheng Evening News on October 21, 2019. In response, on November 21, 2019, Supor filed a lawsuit accusing KoBach of commercial slander. On January 5, 2021, the Hangzhou Intermediate Court released a decision (dated December 14, 2020) ruling in …
Wyeth Wins 30.55 Million RMB in Chinese Trademark Infringement Case with Punitive Damages
Wyeth LLC (“U.S. Wyeth”) , a global leader in infant milk powder, sued Guangzhou Wyeth Baby Maternal and Infant Products Co., Ltd. (广州惠氏宝贝母婴用品有限公司) (“Guangzhou Wyeth”) for trademark infringement and unfair competition in Hangzhou Intermediate Court and was awarded 30.55 Million RMB (~$4.7 million USD) in damages per a decision released January 6, 2021. Guangzhou Wyeth must also stop using Wyeth and 惠氏 (a transliteration of Wyeth) in production and sales of products for infant bathing, skin care, feeding, laundry, diapers, …
Amazon Hit With 76 Million RMB Verdict for Chinese Trademark Infringement
In a decision (（2018）京民初127号) released December 30, 2020, the Beijing Higher People’s Court ruled in favor of Beijing Yanhuang Yingdong Technology Development Co., Ltd. (北京炎黄盈动科技发展有限责任公司) against Amazon Connect Technology Services (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (亚马逊通技术服务（北京）有限公司), an Amazon subsidiary, and co-defendant Beijing Sinnet Technology Co., Ltd. (北京光环新网科技股份有限公司). The plaintiff Yanhuang had sued the defendants on July 12, 2018 for trademark infringement of its mark “AWS” (the acronym for Amazon Web Services for cloud computing). The Court awarded Yanhuang a total of 76,723,000 …