Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court in Henan Province recently examined a case in which PepsiCo.(hereinafter Pepsi) sued a local company in Henan named BAISHI YINPIN Co., Ltd(hereinafter BAISHI) for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Pepsi claimed that it is owner of the registered trademark 百事可乐。The defendant did not obtain the permission from Pepsi and used the 百事 as its trade name and promoted such use in its website, packaging, advertising materials. Pepsi asked the court to issue an order to stop the defendant from using the words 百事as the trade name and to pay a damage of 500,000 Renminbi yuan.
The defendant argued that the trade name was legally registered before Zhengzhou Administration for Industry and Commerce. They have used the word mark甜在心,百事甜在心,and 百事饮品in order to differentiate from Pepsi. Further they argued that the word 百事 was used in small fonts and was not used predominantly. Therefore no trademark infringement or unfair competition was constituted.
The case is still pending.
