Bureaus Exclusive

Shanghai Duck-King wins lawsuit against trademark

By Chen Qide (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-01-30 13:32

SHANGHAI - Shanghai Duck-King Restaurant Group has finally obtained its Duck-King trademark registration rights after a time-consuming lawsuit against its competitor in Beijing.

The Beijing Higher People's Court issued a court verdict on December 8, 2010, saying that the court will affirm the original judgment made by the Trademark Examination and Appraisal Committee of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on June 18, 2007.

"Our perseverance has born fruit and the verdict means an end to the eight years of the fight for the trademark registration rights with Beijing Duck-King," Fan Zhen, chairman of the Shanghai Duck-King Restaurant Group Co Ltd, said Sunday,Jan.30.

Shanghai Duck-King applied for the Duck-King trademark registration on January 29, 2002 and was granted the trademark rights by the committee. But Beijing Duck-King launched a lawsuit against it at the local court, saying Shanghai Duck-King infringed upon its long-used but not registered trademark.

Beijing Duck-King once applied for the trademark registration at the State Trademark Bureau on December 2000 and was rejected with the reason that it had no notability. But it didn't request the bureau to review the case.

Whereas Shanghai Duck-King didn't give up its effort after its application was turned down by the bureau with the same reason, said Lu Shuqin, professor with Shanghai-based East China University of Political Science and Law.

"It required the bureau to reexamine the case and meanwhile, it has been taking great pains to reinforce the outstanding characteristics of its trademark by setting up shops and making advertising promotion," said Lu, who is also a lawyer in intellectual property rights.

The result is the intangible value of the Shanghai Duck-King brand was assessed at 310 million yuan on December 31, 2005, indicating that its notability had been greatly reinforced, she said.

According to Fan, the group has been devoted to the brand building since it was set up in September 1998. It now has 12 shops with two in Beijing and 10 in Shanghai and has spent more than 11 million yuan on advertisement. Its sales reached 300 million yuan in 2010.

"Its strenuous effort in business expansion and advertisement promotion, which have led its trademark to enjoying great popularity, has finally beaten its competitor," Lu said.