"Walnut" music restaurant trademark rights, Taixing a restaurant was fined 120,000 yuan!

Food, wine, music... These elements come together to form a popular music restaurant. A restaurant in Taixing has been ordered to pay 120,000 yuan in compensation for trademark infringement and unfair competition, according to a ruling issued by the Taizhou Intermediate People's Court.

1. Brief description of the case

A Juoli music restaurant in Nanjing has been accused of illegally using the Hutaoli trademark. Many young people are no strangers to Hu Taoli Music restaurant, which was founded in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and has opened stores in about 200 cities across the country in recent years. Its trademark owner is Shenzhen Helongitudinal Culture Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Helongitudinal Company").

In 2020, the company sued a Huanli restaurant (hereinafter referred to as "Taixing Huanli") in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, for illegally using the trademark of Huanli and using in-store decoration similar to the regular Huanli.

On January 14, 2015, Shenzhen Guoyufang Trading Co., Ltd. was approved and registered by the State Trademark Office to obtain the registered trademark of Nuti, approved and used in Class 43 goods, including preparing banquets, cafes, restaurants, restaurants, bar services, etc. On August 6, 2016, the company was granted the ownership of the above registered trademarks.

From September 21, 2015 to December 28, 2016, the company was approved by the State Trademark Office, and successively registered a number of walnut trademarks, approved for use in Class 43 goods, including residential agents (hotels, boarding houses), restaurants, bar services, cafes, teahouses, etc. Since then, Walnut has won many awards.

On November 6, 2017, an outsider surnamed Bo signed a "Walnut Tavern Operation guidance Contract" with Shenzhen Walnut Music Culture Co., LTD. On May 9, 2018, Taixing Walnut was established with Bo as its legal representative.

Until the termination of the business guidance contract on May 31, 2019, Taizhou Walnut has still been operating under its trademark. In December of the same year, the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province made a civil mediation, Shenzhen Walnut Music Culture Co., Ltd. and Bo Mou, Taixing Walnut reached a voluntary agreement, unanimously confirmed that the "Walnut Tavern operation guidance contract" was terminated, Taixing Walnut before December 22 of the same year to change the business name procedures, After the change of the enterprise name shall not use the "walnut" font, and shall not appear in the tavern involved in the "Walnut" related logo.

But the mediation did not work. Later, Taixing Walnut changed its legal representative and continued to operate. To this end, He longitudinal company on the grounds of trademark infringement, Taixing walnut to court, claiming 200,000 yuan.

2. Hearing results

The court ruled that it constituted trademark infringement and unfair competition, and awarded 120,000 yuan. In the trial, the defendant Taixing Walnut claimed that the current legal representative was deceived by the former shareholder and transferred the equity without knowing it, not maliciously violating the rights of the joint venture company. Not only that, Taixing walnut believes that the amount of the company's claim is too high.

After hearing, Taizhou Intermediate People's Court held that since 2015, the joint venture company has obtained the ownership of the series of registered trademarks involved in the case through transfer and registration, and the Walnut Music Tavern belongs to the joint venture company. Under the long-term management of the company, Walnut Music Hotel has accumulated a certain goodwill, and the "Walnut" series of registered trademarks involved in the case has a high reputation.

Secondly, the operation area of Taixing Huanli is more than 300 square meters, and the latest review time in a review App client is June 23, 2021, and the photos attached to the review show that the store is still using the registered trademark of "Huanli" series involved in the case. It can be seen that Taixing Walnut company has been operating for more than a year, with a large business area and a certain scale of operation.

The court held that Taixing Juoli, as an operator specializing in restaurant and bar services with a certain scale of operation, should fulfill its duty of care for reasonable review of civil and commercial activities in which it participates. After the termination of the "Walnut Tavern Operation Guidance Contract", Taixing Walnut continued to use the same logo as the registered trademark of the company has constituted infringement. At the same time, Taixing Walnut Company continues to use the decoration of the company has a certain influence in the store, including the circular wall decoration composed of glass bottles, and continues to maintain the honor wall decoration, which is also an infringement of unfair competition.

In August 2021, Taizhou Intermediate People's Court made a judgment on the case, involving the "walnut" series of registered trademarks with high popularity, the annual royalty of the registered trademarks involved exceeded 30,000 yuan per year, combined with Taixing Walnut's business scale, the duration of infringement, subjective faults, etc., decided that Taixing Walnut compensation for the economic loss of the joint company 120,000 yuan.

3. Case analysis

With the continuous development of social processes and enterprises, the protection of intellectual property rights is becoming more and more popular, and various infringement cases are accompanied by all corners of the side, tens of millions of trademark people want to really do it alone, there are always various reasons, thought that the application of a trademark can be used by themselves once and for all no problem, but they do not know that there are various infringements. Three, invalid, any process down less than 6 months to move for a few years, human and material costs are great, so it can be seen that when the initial start, you need to accurately do a good job of trademark protection, multiple categories and similar trademark applications, Copyrights, patents and so on. (Credit: Open)

More information and services

The official subscription number of "Shenkexin Intellectual Property Rights" on the code

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Code on the concern [Shenkexin intellectual property service platform] official service number

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"Walnut" music restaurant trademark rights, Taixing a restaurant was fined 120,000 yuan!