The Shanghai Intellectual Property Court recently made a final judgment on the trademark infringement and unfair competition dispute between appellant Sichuan Tiandi Publishing House Co., Ltd. and appellant Shanghai Children's Publishing House Co., LTD.The appeal is dismissed and the original judgment upheld.
The court found that,Tiandi Publishing House's use of "100,000 Why" in 14 book titles, book covers, sales pictures and descriptions constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition by using the unique names of well-known products without authorization.The use of "100,000 why are classic readings that have influenced generations... This book is an upgraded version of "100,000 why" and other expressions, which constitute unfair competition of false propaganda, and should bear civil liabilities such as stopping infringement, publishing a statement to eliminate the impact and compensate for losses.
Feng Jie, president of the Children's Publishing House, said, "The victory of the first case of the rights protection of the '100,000 Why' trademark is a strong declaration of our ownership of the '100,000 Why' intellectual property rights, and also a major event in the history of the '100,000 Why' brand."
The book with the words "100,000 why" is not the classic popular science book "100,000 Why"? The trial surrounding this case focused on three main disputes:Whether it constitutes trademark infringement;Whether it constitutes unfair competition by using the unique name of a well-known commodity without authorization;Whether it constitutes unfair competition with false propaganda.
Tiandi Publishing house infringing books
The Shanghai Intellectual Property Court held that "100,000 why" itself has an inherent meaning, but having an inherent meaning is not equivalent to the generic name of the relevant commodity. Question-and-answer popular science books include the "100,000 Why" series of books involved, but "100,000 why" can not be equal to the question-and-answer popular science books.
Tiandi Publishing House highlighted the use of "100,000 whys" on the cover of relevant books,It does not belong to the legitimate use to explain the content of the book, but constitutes the trademark use to identify the source of the book, which objectively plays the function and role of identifying the source of the book, and easily leads to the confusion and misidentification of the source of the book by the book buyer, or the relationship between the Tiandi Publishing House and the children's publishing House.
Nine of the 14 books involved in the case of Tiandi Publishing House were first published before June 2017 (Note: The time when the Children's Publishing House obtained the right trademark registration), but at this time,After long-term use and publicity, the "100,000 Why" series of books of Children's Publishing House enjoys high visibility and reputation in the field of children's popular science books, and is widely known by the relevant public, and has the attribute characteristics of identifying the source of the series of books.Therefore, the court of first instance found that it is not improper to protect it as a unique name of a well-known commodity.
The Shanghai Intellectual Property Court also held that Tiandi Publishing House had no legitimate reason to use "100,000 classic books that have influenced generations of people... This book is the upgraded version of 100,000 why "expression, easy to make readers have the misunderstanding of the upgraded version of the" 100,000 Why "series of books of Tiandi Publishing House, Children's Publishing House.False propaganda that leads to misunderstanding.
Dong Wentao, the agent of Children's Publishing House, believes that the significance of this case is not only that "' 100,000 why 'is not the common name of popular science books" through judicial judgment, which protects the golden sign of national popular science after 60 years of sedimentation in accordance with the law, but more importantly,“One case is worth more than a dozen documents."，This case will give play to the function and role of normative guidance and evaluation of judicial judgment.
Last November,The State Intellectual Property Office listed the "100,000 Why" registered trademark as a classic case in the national Trademark Examination and Trial Guide.And in the "100,000 why" related trademarks invalid, objection, review of a number of decisions, the "100,000 why" carried out the ownership confirmation. In early 2022, “100,000 "Why" trademarks were selected into the Shanghai Key trademark protection list.
Children's Publishing House has sent lawyers' letters to dozens of publishing houses,They were asked to remove the counterfeit books immediately.After receiving the lawyer's letter, a number of publishing houses expressed their respect for well-known book brands and their willingness to actively cooperate with the removal of counterfeit books through written reply letters, phone calls, text messages, wechat and other means.Signed the "100,000 Why" brand intellectual property Settlement Agreement with Children's Publishing House.
Dong Wentao said: "After receiving the lawyer's letter from us, many publishing houses have a positive and sincere attitude, expressing their willingness to remove the shelves and settle, and even put forward similar confusion to me:The well-known books they have carefully built and focused on publicity are often "piggy-backed", "free-riding" and "brand-name".Some booksellers' scissors and paste 'and' copy and paste 'techniques are skilled, in a short time can churn out a large number of books with the same name or similar names, so as to seize the market of well-known high-quality books, resulting in bad money to drive out good money, but also make readers dazzled and fall into tricks."
In this regard, Dong Wentao further proposed,In law, books are also a kind of commodity, and the title of a book is the "keyword" for consumers to find books.，If a book has a high social visibility, the name of the book can be protected by the "Unfair Competition Law" as a "commodity name with certain influence".
Source: Shangguan News
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