Recently, Liaoning Higher People's Court made a second-instance decision in favor of Orion Food Co. Ltd.(Orion Co.) against Jiangsu Haoliyou Food Science and Technology Co. Ltd. (Jiangsu Orion) for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
In 1995, the subsidiary of Orion Food Co. Ltd of Korea was established in Langfang, Hebei province of China and won good market popularity thereon with its name known as “好丽友” in Chinese.
In April 2003, the manager of Jiangsu Haoliyou, surnamed Xu, filed a trademark "好丽友HAOLIYOU" before the Trademark Office(TMO) covering goods of nori, etc. In August 2004, when learning the trademark was approved, Orion Co. filed opposition against it. In April 2009, TMO rejected Xu's application on the ground that the cited trademark "好丽友" was a well-known trademark in China. Dissatisfied with the decision, Xu then applied for reexamination before Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB). Simultaneously Orion Co. filed a lawsuit against Jiangsu Haoliyou before Liaoning Intermediate People's Court.
In 2010, Liaoning Shenyang Intermediate People's Court ruled that Jiangsu Haoliyou infringed trademark of Orion Co. and that it should cease all infringing activities and make compensations. Later the lawsuit was appealed to Liaoning Higher People's Court.
In June, 2011 during the lawsuit examination TRAB approved Xu's registration of the trademark "好丽友HAOLIYOU",. Disagreeing with the decision Orion Co. appealed the case before Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court. After examination, the court maintained the decision of TRAB ruling that there was no trademark infringement because the two marks were used in different classes of goods. Then the lawsuit was appealed before Beijing Higher People's Court by both companies.
In May 2012, Beijing Higher People's Court ruled on the trademark infringement because there existed similarity between the two trademarks. Later in 2013, TRAB rejected Xu's application for the trademark "好丽友HAOLIYOU". Meanwhile Liaoning Shenyang Intermediate People's Court retried the case. After the retrial, it ruled that there was trademark infringement as well as unfair competition in this case and all infringing activities should be ceased. Jiangsu Haoliyou then filed another appeal before Liaoning Higher People's Court, which affirmed the original decision.
On Oct 11 2013 Jiangsu Haoliyou officially changed its name as Jiangsu Kawang Food Co. Ltd., marking the end of the 10-year IP rights dispute.
