October 27, 2017, the day the most shocking event in the home appliance industry is the Oaks air-conditioning smart factory is completed, for the air conditioning 'fashion leader' people are no stranger to the little-known, just three days after the intelligent factory was officially completed, Around the 'Oaks' and 'AUX' logos, the names of companies include 'Oaks' Oaks Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Oaks Group)versus Oaks Express Elevator (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Oaks Elevator Company)Between the three years of intellectual property and unfair competition disputes finally come to a conclusion.
Recently, the information published in China's referendum shows that the Supreme People's Court of Jiangsu Province made a final judgment that OX Elevator infringed upon the rights of the Aux Group to the trademarks Aux and AUX, and used the word "Aux" as its name , Use www.auxlift.com as an internet domain name to unfairly compete with the AUX Group, and stop using the words "AUX" and "AUX" and the domain name "www.auxlift.com" and compensate the AUX Group for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling 100 Million.
Three years ago to court
China National Grid learned that the Oaks Group was first established in 1986, when Zheng Jianjiang, 25, contracted the verge of bankruptcy Long Watch Parts Factory started business in June 2001 formally developed into a Ningbo Oaks Electronic Industrial Co., Ltd. in November 2003 changed its name to Ningbo Oaks Group Co., Ltd., changed its name to Oaks Group Co., Ltd. in December of the same year. Its business scope covers many industries such as electric power, home appliances, communication, real estate, medical treatment, investment and etc. Oakes is the most widely known flagship product of Oaks Group.
Information from the Civil Judgment of Jiangsu Higher People's Court shows that in August 1995, the OX Group registered the 'Aux' trademark No. 800469, the AUX Oaks and Map trademark No. 800471 and the AUX 'trademark No. 800472 in December 1995, Involving 11 categories such as air conditioners, refrigerators and electric lights, etc. In January 2006, the AUX Group acquired the registered trademark AUX 'No. 5108409 and approved the use of Class 7 commodities such as elevators and washing machines.
The Oaks Elevator Company registered in November 17, 2009, the scope of business includes production and sales of elevators, elevator accessories, decoration accessories and the installation of elevators, alterations, repairs.
In June 2014, the Oakes Group discovered that an escalator marked "AUX AUX" was installed in a supermarket at Xianghu Golden Sands Road in Nanchang City and that the elevator manufacturer was found to be OX Elevator Co. Later, the OX Group also found that Oakes Elevator company registered domain name is 'www.auxlift.com', 'aux' and the Oaks Group's English font size 'AUX' is exactly the same, and the site column exists 'into the Oaks, ABOUTAUX', etc. OX Group believes that the above Act has constituted trademark infringement and unfair competition.
As a result, Oaks Group sued Oaks Elevator Company to Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, requesting the court to order Oaks Elevator Company to stop the trademark infringement and unfair competition, immediately destroy the infringing products or remove the infringing products on the 'AUX' and 'AUX' Identify, stop or change the domain name of 'www.auxlift.com' using the company name containing 'AUX', and compensate for the economic loss of RMB1 million and the reasonable expenses of RMB100,000.
Oaks Elevator Company argued that there is a certain difference between the two companies name the products belong to different categories, sales channels and customer groups are not the same, will not cause the public to Oaks trademark and product sources of misunderstanding, it will not lead to the public on the two There is a confusion between related business relationships.
Jiangsu High Court upheld the original verdict
As to whether the use of the logo and the domain name of AUX Elevator Company infringes on the exclusive right of the Aux Group registered trademark and constitutes unfair competition, the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court found after examination that the AUX elevator company uses 'Aux' as its corporate name and in its The use of 'Aux' and 'AUX' text prominently on products manufactured and / or marketed undermines the well-known trademark rights of the Aux Group; the use of 'Aux' in corporate names and the prominent use of 'Aux' The Group, based on the good reputation created by the 'Oaks' trademark, improved its reputation and violated the principle of good faith and recognized commercial ethics, posing unfair competition to the OX Group. The Domain Name used by Oaks Elevator Company was similar to that of the 'AUX' trademark , The domain name website and the Oaks Group site with the same column settings and column name Oaks Elevator Company businesses and products with commercial propaganda, enough to cause the public confusion, misidentification, constitutes an unfair competition to the Oaks Group.
To sum up, the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court of First Instance ruled that the Oaks Elevator Company should stop using the 'AUX' and 'AUX' logos in its operations and stop using the words 'AUX' in its name and stop using the domain name 'www.auxlift.com' And compensation for the economic losses and reasonable expenses Oaks Group totaling 1 million yuan.
Oakes Elevator refused to accept the judgment of the first instance, and subsequently filed an appeal with Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court.After hearing, the Higher People's Court of Jiangsu Province made the final judgment on October 30, 2017, rejected the appeal of Oaks Elevator Company and upheld the judgment of first instance.
In addition, China National Grid learned that the company changed its name to Guoxin Elevator Technology Co., Ltd. on June 10, 2015. Later, after a series of investments, mergers and acquisitions and shareholding restructuring, On January 23, 2017, the company name was changed to Guoxin Elevator Technology Co., Ltd.
Link: China to speed up the implementation of brand strategy of building a strong country
'Nowadays, society is paying more attention to intellectual property such as trademarks and patents and lawyers engaged in intellectual property affairs, and the legal affairs are becoming more and more popular.' 'A legal person told China Home Appliances that the Oakes case is just one microcosm. Now China's trademark The status quo in the brand field is that on the one hand, there are more and more applications for trademark registration, on the other hand, the number of trademark and brand rights protection has also risen sharply.
After decades of development, China has entered an important phase of economic transformation from an economic power to an economic power. In the period of economic restructuring, some industries experienced overcapacity while some of their consumption needs spilled over from foreign brands. Therefore, the development of independent intellectual property Become an important way to improve Chinese enterprises in the global competitiveness.On the other hand, in the trend of consumption upgrade, the development of brand economy, help to improve the quality of products and services.Enterprises brand as a starting point, it is easier to build trust with consumers And a sense of acquisition of the brand experience.
On May 2, 2017, the State Council approved to approve the establishment of the "China Brand Day" every May 10 from 2017 and open a new era of self-owned brand development.
In response, Wang Dong, inspector of the Industry Coordination Department of National Development and Reform Commission, read that the establishment of the China Brand Day by the State Council is a landmark project to strengthen China's design and create in China to meet the needs of residents' consumption and to crack down on infringements such as selling fake products and counterfeiting products. Self-owned brand building is a systematic project. In the future, it will foster a benign and interactive eco-environment for China's own brands from the aspects of quality, innovation, integrity, culture, talent, marketing and marketing.
In addition, the "2016 Annual Report on the Development of China's Trademark Brands" ("Report") recently released by the Institute of Chinese Trademark Brands of Renmin University recently pointed out that at present, China's overall trademark registration is in good condition. The development of trademark brands in economically developed regions is particularly prominent. However, Most registered trademarks have relatively low brand value and a low degree of internationalization. A large number of trademarks also need to be converted into the strength of the brand and economic value to further enhance the brand's connotation.
The report also clearly put forward the development of China's trademark brand in the main direction: First, the number of trademark applications, trademark brand building to speed up the second is to attach great importance to policy support, the top dividend sustained release. Third, the consumer demand market upgrade, open brand consumer era. The fourth is to explore the root causes of brand theory and the continuous deepening of the trademark strategy. Fifth, the product segmentation of the brand industry and individualized demand are strengthened. Sixthly, the brand data is fully demonstrated and the science and technology foundation is deepened. VII. Cultural Confidence Cohesive force and brand connotation lead the future.