trademarkDoes malicious squatting constitute unfair competition? Recently, Xiamen Intermediate People's Court issued the Xiamen Court2021One of the top 10 intellectual property cases of the year dealt with this issue. 

2010Year to year2019In 2005, the defendant Wang Yimou applied for registration in several categories of goods and services through two companies actually controlled by the defendant48Piece and "love and ease"trademarkIdentical or similar trademarks. The plaintiffs, Emerson Electric, defended their rights through a variety of procedures. 

The following year3In June, Emerson filed a lawsuit with the Xiamen Intermediate People's Court, asking the court to order the defendants to stop the practice, eliminate the effects and compensate them500Ten thousand yuan. The Xiamen Intermediate People's Court found that the two companies controlled by Wang had illegally registered trademarks, damaged the market order of fair competition, harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Emerson Electric and constituted unfair competition. Be involved intrademarkIf an agency accepts the entrustment even though it knows that the other party is applying for trademark registration in bad faith without the purpose of use, it constitutes aiding infringement. The court ordered Wang and the two companies to stop the practice and compensate Emerson160RMB 10,000 yuan, of which the trademark agency involved in the case shall bear64Ten thousand yuan. Later, the Higher People's Court of Fujian Province rejected the appeal in the judgment of the second instance and upheld the judgment of the first instance.

Ring view:This case is of typical and exemplary significance. In this case, the court ruled that the behavior of the trademark registrant constitutes unfair competition, and ordered to stop the infringement, compensate for the loss and eliminate the impact. On the one hand, the trademark agency was ordered to bear the civil compensation liability. On the other hand, the trademark agency was judged to have provided agency services for the malicious registrants even though it was aware of them, which constituted aiding infringement. To give full play to the function of judicial protection of intellectual property rights, effectively crack down on unfair competition acts such as providing agency services for maliciously registered trademarks, and help further guide and regulate the behavior of trademark agencies. Welcome to contact Huanze intellectual property consulting related business!

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