On April 20, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases in Chinese Courts in 2022 (2022年中国法院10大知识产权案件). The cases include the first patent linkage case, trademark infringement, unfair competition in search engine optimization, criminal counterfeiting of registered trademarks, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and others. The list of cases along with an explanation of each as provided by the SPC follow.
Category: Unfair Competition
Decathlon Wins Almost 3 Million RMB in Chinese Trade Dress Dispute for Store Design
As reported by 京法网事 , the Shijingshan People’s Court ruled in favor of Decathlon (Shanghai) Sports Goods Co., Ltd. in a trade dress dispute with a competing unnamed outdoor sports store involving store layout, decoration, logos, props, and other decorative elements. Decathlon was awarded 2.94 million RMB in damages and 350 thousand RMB for expenses, an injunction to eliminate the impact of the unfair competition, and require the defendant to publish a statement in the China Intellectual Property News for …
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Second Batch of Typical Civil Code Cases Including Piercing the Corporate Veil in a Trademark/Unfair Competition Case
On January 12, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court released the Typical Cases of People’s Courts Implementing the Civil Code (Second Batch) (人民法院贯彻实施民法典典型案例（第二批)). The Second Batch comprises 16 cases including one intellectual property case: Wenjian Co., Ltd. v. Suzhou Wenjian Company, a packaging company and Hua, personally (dispute over trademark infringement and unfair competition). In this case, the Court “pierced the corporate veil” in effect by holding Hua jointly and severally liable with the companies as he was the controlling shareholder …
Mast-Jägermeister SE Wins 10 Million RMB at Beijing IP Court for Trademark Infringement and Unfair Competition
On December 15, 2022, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court announced that Mast-Jägermeister SE was awarded 10 million RMB, an injunction and apology from Shengluo Company (Qingdao) Wine Co., Ltd. (简称圣罗拉公司), Hefei Puyuan Commerce & Trade Co., Ltd. (合肥葡园商贸有限公司), and Chang XX for trademark infringement and unfair competition. The defendants manufactured liqueur and used the logos “野格哈古雷斯” (Yege Ha Gu Lei) and “YEGO HUNTER” as well as deer head graphics on labels affixed to the liqueur bottles.