Beijing Creative Mackey Plus Information Consulting Co., Ltd. (北京创意麦奇佳偶信息咨询有限公司, hereinafter Mackey English) sued the Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision Administration (北京市朝阳区市场监督管理局) in the Chaoyang District People’s Court of Beijing for imposing a 31 million RMB fine (~$4.38 million USD) for trademark infringement and the Beijing Market Supervision Administration (北京市市场监督管理局) for affirming the fine after already paying damages for infringement in a civil trial. Under the Chinese trademark law, trademark infringers can be subject to both civil liability and administrative penalty.
Category: Trademarks
New Balance Scores Chinese Unfair Competition Victory Against New Barlun
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.
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In an unpublished decision, on March 31, 2020, the Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision Administration fined Alibaba Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.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.