20 trademarks of Real Kung fu have been ruled invalid for their resemblance to Bruce Lee's likeness and classic moves-Industry News-Shenzhen deep trust patent Agency Co., LTD

News Updates

NEWS CENTER

Related News

There is currently no data available

Home

20 trademarks of Real Kung fu have been ruled invalid for their resemblance to Bruce Lee's likeness and classic moves

Release Time：

2022-11-08

Recently, the descendants of Bruce Lee and the fast food chain real Kung Fu trademark dispute has made progress. China Trademark network shows that the State Intellectual Property Office ruled that Guangzhou True Kung fu Catering Management Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "true Kung fu") has 20 graphic trademarks "invalid", and on August 25, there was an "invalid declaration request ruling". The graphic trademarks that were ruled invalid all resembled Bruce Lee's likeness and classic moves. According to the China Trademark Network, the 20 graphic trademarks registered by the State Intellectual Property Office, such as "the real Kung Fu and the picture (registration number: 3999537)", "the real Kung Fu (registration number: 6895149)" and "the real Kung Fu Kung Fu Send (registration number: 8852152)", were declared invalid by the State Intellectual Property Office. Taking "True Kung Fu and Map" (registration number: 3999537) as an example, the China Trademark network shows that the trademark is the service trademark of Class 43 "restaurant" applied for registration by true Kung Fu in 2004, and the exclusive right period was originally from February 21, 2017 to February 20, 2027.

Recently, the descendants of Bruce Lee and the fast food chain real Kung Fu trademark dispute has made progress.

China Trademark network shows that the State Intellectual Property Office ruled that Guangzhou True Kung fu Catering Management Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "true Kung fu") has 20 graphic trademarks "invalid", and on August 25, there was an "invalid declaration request ruling". The graphic trademarks that were ruled invalid all resembled Bruce Lee's likeness and classic moves.

Real Kung Fu 20 graphics trademarks were ruled invalid

According to China Trademark Network, 20 graphic trademarks such as "Real Kung Fu and picture (registration number: 3999537)", "Real Kung Fu (registration number: 6895149)" and "Real Kung Fu Kung Fu Send (registration number: 8852152)" were declared invalid by the State Intellectual Property Office.

Taking "True Kung Fu and Map" (registration number: 3999537) as an example, the China Trademark network shows that the trademark is the service trademark of Class 43 "restaurant" applied for registration by true Kung Fu in 2004, and the exclusive right period was originally from February 21, 2017 to February 20, 2027.

Source: China Trademark Network

The State Intellectual Property Office heard that Bruce Lee is a generation of martial arts master, the first global promoter of Chinese kung fu, the first Chinese protagonist in Hollywood, known as the "King of Kung Fu", before the controversial trademark application for registration, Bruce Lee is already a household name public figure, with high popularity and widespread influence. The disputed trademark is almost the same as Bruce Lee's portrait and classic action, and is used as a trademark in the approved service, which is easy for consumers to misidentify the source of the service and other characteristics, and has constituted the situation referred to in Article 10, paragraph 1 (7) of the Trademark Law of 2001 (that is, exaggerated publicity and deceptive signs shall not be used as trademarks).

According to the ruling, in accordance with the provisions of Article 10, paragraph 1 (7) of the Trademark Law of 2001 and Article 44, paragraphs 1, 3 and 46 of the Trademark Law of 2019, the State Intellectual Property Office ruled that these disputed trademarks were invalid.

Source: China Trademark Network

It is also on August 25, Bruce Lee's daughter v. Real Kung Fu case in Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the "Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court"), the case for the general personality rights dispute, the case has not yet been pronounced.

According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, officials in charge of Kungfu said that whether the 20 "old" Kungfu trademarks that were declared invalid violated the Trademark Law and other disputes "remain to be decided by the Shanghai court."

The real Kung fu trademark that was declared invalid source: China Trademark network

Who does Bruce Lee's image rights belong to?

As early as December 25, 2019, Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC (Bruce Lee Limited Liability Company, hereinafter referred to as "Bruce Lee Company") filed a lawsuit against Real Kung Fu with the Shanghai Second Middle School, requiring Real Kung Fu to immediately stop using Bruce Lee's image and clarify in the media for 90 consecutive days that the company has nothing to do with Bruce Lee. Compensation for economic losses of 210 million yuan and reasonable expenses of 88,000 yuan.

True Kung Fu responded through Weibo one day after being sued, saying that the true Kung Fu series of trademarks were authorized by the company's application and the State Trademark Office after strict review, and the company has been used for 15 years. True Kung Fu believes that whether its trademark infringes has also been disputed many years ago, but its trademark has not been judged infringement or cancellation of administrative or judicial conclusions. True Kung Fu said it was "very confused" to be prosecuted after many years, and said it was actively studying the case and preparing to respond.

According to public reports, Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee has been buying back the U.S. rights to her father's films and trademarks since 2010. Since then, Shannon Lee has set up a rights protection office in China and taken a number of measures to protect her rights.

Dong Yongyi, deputy director of the Trademark Professional Committee of the Guangzhou Lawyers Association and lawyer of Guangdong Sanhuan Huihua Law Firm, said that according to the provisions of Article 47 of the Trademark Law, once the ruling of trademark invalidation takes effect, the exclusive right to use the corresponding registered trademark does not exist from beginning to end. The reason for the invalidity of the State Intellectual Property Office is that the registered trademark of real Kung Fu is nearly the same as Bruce Lee's portrait and classic action, so Bruce Lee's daughter's appeal in the civil case "request to stop using the image of Bruce Lee" is naturally easy to get the support of the court.

Real Kung Fu originated in Dongguan, formerly known as the "168 Dessert House" established in 1990, and became the "Double Seed" steamed food restaurant in 1994. In 2004, under the planning services of Ye Maozhong marketing planning Agency, the company transformed its positioning as "Chinese fast food" and launched the "Real Kung Fu" brand, which was accompanied by an icon resembling Bruce Lee.

It is worth noting that in 2016, real Kung Fu officially released a new brand image and a new version of the Logo, compared with the old design, the new Logo has changed in composition and brand name.

Real Kung fu new and old brand Logo comparison (left is old, right is new)

Similar to the trademark infringement case of Bruce Lee Descendants v. Real Kung Fu, there was the Jordan trademark case that attracted much attention in the early years. On February 23, 2012, NBA star Michael Jordan said in a video that he filed a lawsuit in a Chinese court, accusing Qiaodan Sports Co., LTD. (now renamed Zhongqiao Sports Co., LTD.) of violating his name rights.

In 2019, the Supreme People's Court ruled that the Qiaodan Sports trademark at that time did not reflect Jordan's personal characteristics and did not constitute damage to Jordan's portrait rights. In 2020, the Supreme People's Court held that Qiaodan Sports, knowing that Michael Jeffrey Jordan himself enjoys long-term and extensive popularity in China, still uses "Qiaodan" to apply for the registration of the disputed trademark, which is easy to cause the relevant public to mistakenly believe that there is a specific connection between the goods marked with the disputed trademark and Jordan himself, such as endorsement and licensing, and damages Jordan's prior name right.

Finally, at the end of 2020, the same Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court ruled that Qiaodan Sports publicly apologized to the plaintiff Jordan himself in newspapers and on the Internet, and clarified the relationship between the two; Stop using the trade name "Jordan" in its business name; The use of trademarks involving the word "Jordan" shall be discontinued, but for trademarks involving the word "Jordan" with a dispute period of more than five years, it shall be indicated in a reasonable manner, including a distinguishing mark, that it does not have any association with Michael Jordan; Compensate the plaintiff for mental damage of 300,000 yuan. (Source: Thepaper.cn)

More intellectual property information and services

Pay attention to [Shenkexin Intellectual Property] Official subscription number

More deeply credible dynamic news, important data/report/case, etc.

Pay attention to the [Shenkexin Intellectual Property Service Platform] official service number