Founder Group wins the trademark of "Founder Yihe"

In order to keep away the usage of the “Founder Yihe (方正颐和)” trademark by others, Founder Group (hereinafter referred to as the “Founder”) has filed a lawsuit against Founder Technology Group Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the “Founder Tech”) asking for name changing and indemnity of 500,000 RMB. Yesterday, Haidian court made a verdict in favor of Founder requiring Founder Tech to change name, stop using the “Founder Yihe” trademark, and pay Founder 40,000 RMB.

According to Founder, it has been using “Founder Yihe” since 1997 and registered the trademark on related computer products in the following year. However, Founder Tech (founded in 1999) used “Founder Yihe” in the company’s name as the trade name and also on navigations and wireless air cards.

Founder believed that, this could cause confusion among consumers as Founder produces navigations and wireless air cards with “Founder Yihe” as well, thus brought the accusation against Founder Tech.

However, the defendant pointed out that Founder hasn’t used “Founder Yihe” in the company’s name for a long time, and the name for Founder Tech was registered legally and the use of the trademark on navigation and wireless air cards was reasonable.

After the investigation, the court believed that, Founder was earlier than Founder Tech in the usage and registration of “Founder Yihe” and the defendant was willful to register the trademark; if the defendant won’t change the name, consumers may take the two companies’ products as the same.

Both companies didn’t make reactions after the verdict. [Chinese version is available on People’s Daily Online]