Recently, Beijing Haidian district court entered into the first-instance judgment on a domain name dispute, issuing an injunction and 1.9 million Renminbi yuan for damage. The court ordered the defendants to stop the use of the domain name www.jackjonescn.net and cease the sale of the infringing clothes bearing the mark of JACK&JONES.
Bestseller Fashion Group (Tianjin) Co., LTD (hereinafter refers to as Bestseller Co.) is owner of the mark JACK&JONES杰克·琼斯and is one of the European’s largest fashion groups. Bestseller Co. started to promote the mark JACK&JONES in 1999 in China. In 2008, they found there was a website claiming themselves as the only official Chinese website for JACK&JONES. Further the website promoted the sale of clothing bearing the mark of JACK&JONES. .Bestseller Co. then brought the case to the court.
After reviewing the case, the court found that the website was registered by two Chinese natural persons. The 2 persons, without any authorization from Bestseller Co., registered the website bearing the name of JACK&JONES and then sold the clothing bearing the mark JACK&JONES. Such acts misled the public as to the sources of the clothing. Since the two defendants made an income of more than 2.8 million Renminbi yuan from January 2008 to February 2010, the court therefore ruled that the defendants should not only stop the infringement but also made a compensation of 1.9 million Renminbi yuan in damage.
