Land Rover and "Land Tiger" Trademark Competition Dust Settled

Twelve years ago, Geely Group successfully registered the "Land Rover" trademark, which triggered the dissatisfaction of the British road company Lu Wah, which is affiliated with Land Rover. The latter sued the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Review and Adjudication Committee) for cancellation. Support it.

Land Rover, Land Rover, Land Rover and Land Rover’s well-known land rover brands have been translated more as “Land Rover” in recent years.

However, according to the explanation of the Luhua Company during the previous court hearing, the "Land Tiger Land Tiger" of the land tiger can better reflect the performance of the off-road vehicles and is also a translation of the "LAND". As early as 1996, they used the "Land Tiger" as their " Landrover's Chinese translation trademark has been branded.

However, on November 10, 1999, Geely received an art-designed Chinese “land tiger” trademark after the approval of the industrial and commercial department. The special period was until March 6, 2021. The approved product was a motorcycle and land vehicle engine. Cars, car bodies, trucks, etc.

This traditional trademark triggered the worries of Luhua Company. On April 26, 2004, Luhua Company filed a deregistration application with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board.

The Geely Company was accused of malicious cybersquatting. In response to this, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board ruled that before the disputed trademark “Land Tiger” applied for registration, there was no sufficient evidence to prove that Luhua Company actively promoted and used the trademark in the Chinese market and had certain As a result, the disputed trademark is maintained.

Afterwards, Luhua Company appealed the Trade and Industry Judge to the Intermediate People's Court and sentenced the court yesterday.

The court held that the existing evidence could prove that before the date of the disputed trademark application, the English “LAND ROVER” off-road vehicle was called “Land Rover” in China and was already familiar to the relevant Chinese public. Therefore, it was determined that the cancellation of the Trademark Jury’s ruling before the decision. After the judgment came into force, the TRAB re-determined and approved the "Land Tiger" trademark.

The presiding judge Rao Yadong said that as an automobile production company, Geely should know the correspondence between the Chinese "Land Rover" and "LAND ROVER" and its reputation in the industry, but it still registered the Chinese "Land Tiger" application on automobiles and other goods. It is unfair and does not comply with the provisions of the Trademark Law.

According to the law, if it is not satisfied with this judgment, the plaintiff, Luhua Company, may appeal to the Beijing Higher People’s Court within 15 days, the defendant’s trade judges and the Geely Group within 15 days. Regarding this, yesterday’s verdict was not clearly stated by all parties.

41 Media Reports to be Finalized In this case, the plaintiff Luhua had listed a large number of media reports when presenting evidence. In the final judgment, 41 reports were cited and became the key to the final decision.

Rao Yadong, the presiding judge of the case, said in court that because some of the media reports submitted by the plaintiff were published after the date of the disputed trademark application, they were excluded and 41 of them were selected from professional auto newspapers or magazines.

All 41 articles mentioned above included Chinese “Land Rover”. The court held that from an interview with the relevant person in charge of the original right holder of the “LAND ROVER” brand, BMW recognized the Chinese “Land Tiger” for its “LAND ROVER”. "The off-road vehicle car goods are referred to, and it can also prove that these cases occurred before Geely registered the disputed trademark.