"薇薇" trademark dispute came to an end

Shenyang Weiwei Beauty Care Co., Ltd. (plaintiff) filed a lawsuit against Beijing Jingdu Weiwei Beauty Care Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. (defendant), stating that the later has infringed on its trademark right.

Recently, Beijing Municipal High People's Court ruled in the last instance that the defendant must stop using the trademark "京都薇薇" (Jingdu Weiwei) and its logo in any beauty salon any more. Thus, the legal battle is finally settled.

Over the past ten years, the two parties have initiated several lawsuits against each other over trademark infringements.

Shenyang Weiwei, founded in October 1989, filed trademark applications on "薇薇、WEIWEI" and its W-shape logo in the State Trademark Office. In September 1997, the application was approved and was registered in trademark class 42, which covers massage, senior barber shop, beauty salon and manicure. With 20 years' hard working, Shenyang Weiwei has developed into a large comprehensive beauty company in China and its trademark "薇薇WEIWEI" was awarded as Liaoning Famous Trademark.

The trademark of "京都薇薇JINGDUWEIWEI" was approved in October 2001 in trademark class 42. Although the two companies' trademarks were registered in the same class, the coverage of Jingdu Weiwei's trademark was wider than that of Shenyang weiwei with the inclusion of several non-commercial professional consulting services and technology research and development. Since then, the company opened more than 30 franchise stores across the country including in Shenyang. But some of the stores were investigated and punished by local administrations for industry and commerce for their use of substandard products.

In order to let consumers find the truth and protect their rights, Shenyang Weiwei sought help from the Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce to stop Jingdu Weiwei from using the trademark "京都薇薇JINGDUWEIWEI" in August 2002, and also appealed to Shenyang Intermediate People's Court in February 2003, accusing Jingdu Weiwei of infringing on its trademark rights. A four-year legal battle thus kicked off.

In September 2003, the Court heard the case and in December the same year, it ruled that the defendant's activity constituted a violation on the plaintiff's rights and ordered the defendant to stop infringing and pay 500 thousand yuan to the plaintiff as compensation. Obviously, the plaintiff won the lawsuit. However, the defendant refused to accept the court's decision and appealed to Liaoning High People's Court. The High Court suspended the proceedings on the grounds that both of the two parties were using their trademark rights within the law.

In 2005, the Trademark Appeal Board determined to maintain the trademark of "京都薇薇JINGDUWEIWEI" in the class in its decision [0532]. Shenyang Weiwei refused to accept the decision and appealed to Beijing Intermediate People's Court against both the Trademark Appeal Board and Jingdu Weiwei. In May 2005, the Court ruled that the Trademark Appeal Board must annul its decision [0532] and remove "京都薇薇JINGDUWEIWEI" from the trademark pool.

Jingdu Weiwei refused to accept the Court's judegement and appealed to Beijing High People's Court. In 2006, the Court made the final decision to reject the appeal and uphold the original verdict. In August 2006, the Trademark Appeal Board decided to revoke the trademark "京都薇薇JINGDUWEIWEI" pursuant to trademark laws. Later Jingdu Weiwei filed administrative proceedings against the Trademark Appeal Board to Beijing Intermediate People's Court and lost the case again. Almost at the same time, on August 17, 2006, Liaoning High People's Court made a No.45 final civil judgment, rejecting Jingdu Weiwei's appeal and upholding the original conviction.

According to a representative from Shenyang Weiwei, after losing the lawsuit, Jingdu Weiwei filed a number of trademark applications by slightly modifying "京都薇薇JINGDUWEIWEI" and never stopped using the revoked trademark. However, many of its new trademark applications were rejected. [Chinese version is available on cbt.com.cn]