Recently, the Fengtai District People’s Court of Beijing made the first-instance judgment on trademark infringement, ordering the defendant, Beijing Dachangmian Trading Co., Ltd (hereinafter Dachangmian ) to cease infringement and pay 30,000 Renmnbi yuan in damages to Xianmen Luwanda Industrial Development Co., Ltd (hereinafter Luwanda).
Luwanda is the licensee of the mark “PORTS宝姿”, which was obtained by Ports International Inc.in December 1997, covering goods of eyeglasses in Class 9. Luwanda claimed that the sale of counterfeit PORTS eyeglasses by Dachangmian in the market is an infringement of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark PORTS and is a deliberate free rider on the reputation of the mark “PORTS宝姿”. Such acts have generated a bad impact on its trademark.
After examination, the court held that the eyeglasses sold by Dachangmian used a logo which was similar to the mark owned by Ports International Inc. The use is mostly likely to cause public confusion, therefore an infringement of the mark PORTS The court then asked the defendant to cease infringement immediately and pay 30,000 Renmnbi yuan to the plaintiff for damages.
