Mass Comment On Trademark Infringement Disputes

As an independent third party consumer reviews website, Public comment network To provide consumers with a network technology platform for uploading information and comments on business information for users to comment and interact with the service quality of relevant merchants, and enjoy certain popularity among consumers. According to relevant statistics, the number of monthly active users is over 54 million, and the number of reviews is over 22 million, which includes nearly 180 merchants, covering more than 2300 cities nationwide, and the total monthly browsing volume exceeds 1 billion 200 million. And its yellow logo is also known to the public.

On November 2012, Liu Zheng was suspected. Trademark infringement The public comment network was brought to court. Liu Zheng complained that as early as 2003, he completed the "small man" of the fine arts work, and the first trademark was published in 2004, and the trademark registration was completed in 2008. In December 2010, he registered and established the information technology company limited to publicize the logo as the logo of his company. Liu Zheng believes that the "villain" logo of the public comment network is similar to its registered trademark and constitutes infringement. Without comment, the public comment website has highlighted the use of the trademark in its commercial activities, such as its business premises, public comment website website, webmaster ICO head and Internet mobile terminals. It has formed a deeper visual impression and associated association among the relevant public, causing confusion and mistaken identity of the relevant public, and infringing on its exclusive right to trademark. He asked the public comment website to stop using the trademark, apologize for the newspaper and compensate for the total loss of more than 10 yuan.

The public comment website argues that the "villain" logo is designed by its employees. The inspiration of design comes from the word "big" of the public comment network, and the purpose of taking the meaning as "providing convenient services for all people since the information from the masses" embodies the goal of taking people as the basis and taking it from people and serving people. The logo inclines slightly to the left, giving people a cheering image, adding three-dimensional relief design, using a single orange, representing enthusiasm, bright and bright, reflecting the purpose of the public comment network "orange heart orange" (meaning sincere) to serve the public. Its "villain" figure is obviously different from the plaintiff's trademark.

The court held that the main structure of the plaintiff's trademark is obviously different from the main structure of the defendant's identity, and the relevant public will not produce confusion and misidentification, so it does not constitute trademark infringement.

At the same time, the court held that the popularity of the defendant's graphics was far greater than that of the plaintiff. Liu Zheng The registered graphic trademark has established a fixed and continuous connection with the public comment network by the relevant public. From the time of using graphics, the plaintiff's graphics have been registered in the form of works of art, but no other evidence has been provided. The relevant website records show that the defendant's logo was used online in May 2004, earlier than the time when the plaintiff's trademark was applied for registration and the time of registration approval.

Accordingly, the court dismissed all plaintiff's claims in accordance with the law.

Whether the identification of the two "villains" has become the focus of controversy between the two sides in court. The judge of the case said that trademark refers to the trademark which is accused of infringement, compared with the plaintiff's registered trademark, the font, pronunciation, meaning or graphics composition and color of the text, or the overall structure of each element after its combination is similar, or its three-dimensional shape and color combination are similar. It is easy for the relevant public to misunderstand the source of the service, or think that its source has a specific relationship with the plaintiff's registered trademark service.

The main structure of the plaintiff's logo is a vertical "small man" figure standing upright, with the head of the earth, the upper limbs and the lower limbs as the standard half length circle, and the upper limbs and the lower limbs tightly combined. The main structure of the defendant's logo is the figure of orange "slat" tilting to the left and the right foot off the ground. The head is a solid ball, the upper limb is a half circle, the lower limb is a circle with a larger radius, and the lower limbs are more robust than the upper limbs. The shadow of the left foot shows that it is a three-dimensional model. The main body structure of the two "villains" is obviously different from each other and will not cause public confusion.