For a long time, New Balance, the American sports shoe brand, has been deeply affected by Shanzhai in China.
The “New York Times†reported today that the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court ruled yesterday that the three manufacturers who manufacture shoes under the New Boom brand must pay New Balance’s US$1.5 million (about 10 million yuan) in tort damages and legal fees because they Infringement of the well-known tilting "N" logo of this American sports company. This decision can still be appealed.
According to public information, New Boom is the 25th trademark applied by New Balance Sports Group Co., Ltd. on March 23, 2016. The current status is a refusal to review, and that registration was performed by a Fujian company. New Balance Sporting Goods Group Co., Ltd. was registered in Hong Kong in 2008.
â–² New Boom store
The New York Times received a copy of the award given by New Balance. The ruling shows that: New Boom's three defendants - Zheng Chaozhong, New Balance Sporting Goods Co., Ltd. and Bosdak Trading Co., Ltd. - "subjectively has the liberty to hitchhik", "confuses many consumers", " To seize the market share of New Balance sneakers, "very damaging to New Balance goodwill."
Under the name of Zheng Chaozhong, there is also an Andema Sporting Goods Co., Ltd. registered in Jinjiang Chenye. In addition, Zheng Chaozhong has applied for multiple trademarks, such as "Andermar lead", "New England English", "British Scarlett", "Starkey", etc. Most of the application address is Putian, and the agent and New The Boom trademark registration agent is the same.
For damages of 10 million yuan, intellectual property lawyer Douglas Clark told the New York Times, "I have not heard of any foreign company that has received this level of tort compensation before."
“In the case of trademark infringement in Mainland China, the defendant’s profitability and subjective awareness will be considered,†said Sui Chao, a senior partner and sports lawyer of Shanghai Baiyue Lawyers. “In this case, the court issued a ban. However, the defendant did not seem to comply, which is subjective and malicious. According to the provisions of the Trademark Law, it can be more than three times the compensation. The 1.5 million US dollars I think there is some truth, and this should also be the defendant's sales records and books to support.â€
Although according to international standards, the punishment of 10 million yuan is not too great, but compared with previous cases, there has been a substantial increase.
On June 19, Fujian Higher People’s Court ruled that Uncle Martian stopped using the disputed trademark. Uncle Martian is required to compensate Under Armour’s $2 million loss, destroy all infringing products, and issue a statement to eliminate the negative impact of the violation. Sole Collector, the authoritative footwear magazine, said at the time that this was a rare victory in the Chinese trademark infringement case.
In April this year, a Hangzhou court ruled that a company that manufactures New Bunren shoes infringed New Balance’s trademark rights and required a compensation of US$550,000. In addition, New Balance is also suing the manufacturer of the New Barlun brand.
According to a report by China Intellectual Property magazine, the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court made a preliminary judgment on April 24, penalizing the five companies for a fine of US$250,000 because they violated the order issued in September last year prohibiting them from selling shoes under the N-point italics.
The New York Times confirmed to Amy Dow, senior manager of corporate global communications at New Balance, that the fine was confirmed. Amy said that the brands used by the five companies are New Boom. “These actions are much more costly than traditional counterfeiting enforcement measures, but New Balance believes in protecting its own intellectual property,†she said.
The judgment of yesterday was not just a staged victory won by New Balance. It also has a landmark significance for many brands that have been infringed in China.
New Balance established New Balance Trade (China) Co., Ltd. in China on December 27, 2006. In fact, there are nearly 200 related trademarks with “New Balance†in China. For example, Guangzhou New Balance Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. applied for "NEW BOLUNE New Balance" Class 18 trademark on December 09, 2005. The company also applied for the “New Balance†25th trademark on March 31, 2015. Both trademarks have been successfully registered.
In addition to the “New Balance†series, New Balance is also facing the challenges of New Barlun and New Bunren. Jinjiang industry insiders told Sloth Bear Sports that the brand of New Balance in Jinjiang is no less than 100, and the industry has grown to be divided into several levels, and several large brands have started to open orders. Larger volume can sell tens of thousands of pairs of N-shaped shoes every year, with revenues of up to more than one billion yuan.
â–² New Bunren store
“Why is China's cottage rampant? Because the domestic trademark law is too curious, if foreign brands want to enter China, the first English brand to register, Chinese Pinyin to register, Chinese also have to register, as well as logo graphic trademarks have to register, these four things If you do not register, it will be a copycat,†said the industry analyst.
At present, "trademark occupation" is a common law in China, that is, a trademark is usually awarded to a person who first submits an application to the government. It is precisely because of this that New Balance’s rights in China are very difficult.
In April 2015, a Chinese court ruled that Zhou Lelun, who registered the “New Balance†Chinese trademark, won the case. New Balance was required to pay him US$14 million. Zhou Lelun is the legal representative of New Balance Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. of Guangzhou. Later, New Balance filed an appeal and the fine dropped to 5 million yuan, or about 700,000 US dollars.
But now, the situation has changed. China passed a new trademark law in 2014, raising the maximum amount of compensation for infringement from 500,000 yuan to 3 million yuan.
“In areas with relatively developed market economy in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, the protection of intellectual property rights is also relatively large. In fact, 1.5 million US dollars is not too high, as long as there is evidence to support and the subject’s subjective malicious infringement is relatively large, it is certainly possible to decide , "Sui Zhao said," In fact, the protection of intellectual property in the Chinese mainland has been very complete."
With Under Armour and New Balance succeeding in rights protection and obtaining a certain amount of compensation, this will become a major trend. The days of the Chinese cottage brand will get more and more sad, but this is not a bad thing.
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