On September 24, 2019, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court issued Administrative Judgment (2019) Jing 73 Xing Chu No. 9759 in the administrative dispute between Shinsil Silk Cosmetics Co., Ltd.(a Japanese corporation) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) concerning the rejection review of a trademark application. The court ruled to revoke the decision issued by the former Trademark Review and Adjudication Board Decision No. 商评字[2019]第50529 which had rejected the international registration No. 1338367  for the trademark “frais vent”, and ordered CNIPA to issue a new decision.

Beijing Caihe Law Firm was retained by Shinsil Silk Cosmetics Co., Ltd. to act as the plaintiff’s representative in the above case.

Key highlights of the case:

The disputed trademark consists of the French words “frais” and “vent.” Cited Trademark No. 1 and No. 2 are composed solely of the Chinese characters “凉风” (“cool breeze”). Cited Trademark No. 3 comprises the Chinese characters “凉风” together with the pinyin “Liangfeng”, with the dominant identifying portion being “凉风.”Dictionary checks revealed that “frais vent”is not a fixed French phrase; the French translation of the dominant identifying portion of the three cited trademarks “凉风”is “vent frais,”which is not the same as the disputed trademark.Moreover, given that foreign language education in China focuses mainly on English, the general public’s recognition of French is relatively low. When comparing the marks in isolated view and applying ordinary attention, confusion between the disputed trademark and the three cited trademarks is unlikely. Therefore, the disputed trademark and the three cited trademarks should be deemed not similar.Even if the disputed trademark and the three cited trademarks coexist on the same or similar goods, they would not cause confusion among the relevant public. Hence, the disputed trademark and the three cited trademarks do not constitute similar marks used on the same or similar goods.