Recently, Moulin Rouge Inc., the world famous dance performance and hotel operation company, appealed to the Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court against the decision made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) in which TRAB approved the registration of the trademark “Moulin Rouge and device” (the opposed mark) applied by a company in Xiamen.
Moulin Rouge Inc. alleged that the word of “Moulin Rouge” means ““红磨坊”” in Chinese, and it is the name of a world famous cabaret show club and hotel company based in Brussels, Belgium. The mark of “Moulin Rouge” is a well-known trademark which belongs to Moulin Rouge Inc and has been approved the registration in multi-classes for goods or services in China. In April 2003, a Xiamen-based night bar company named “红磨坊”(the “Moulin Rouge” in Chinese) filed for registration of “Moulin Rouge and device” as trademark and was approval to cover services of wine bar, coffee bar and tea house.
Moulin Rouge Inc then filed an opposition and challenged the trademark before the Trademark Office (TMO), which was then brought before the TRAB for reexamination. Moulin Rouge Inc alleged that the mark "Moulin Rouge" comes from its company name and has been renowned for many years in the world. The opposed trademark “Moulin Rouge and device” infringed the prior right of its well-known trademark and the co-existence of the opposed mark in the market will easily mislead the consumers as to the source of services and weaken the distinctiveness of the trademark"Moulin Rouge". Therefore the trademark infringement and unfair competition constituted.
Currently , the case is still pending.
