Recently, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter SAIC) made a ruling that affirmed the legal registration of 飞虎Fayhoo by Southwest Securities Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter Southwest).
Fayhoo. com(hereafter Fayhoo) is a security trade portal website of Southwest. In August 2000, Southwest applied for registration of trademark for 飞虎Fayhoo in Class 36 covering services of mutual fund and capital investment. In December 2000, Yahoo! Inc.(hereafter Yahoo) challenged the application of the trademark 飞虎Fayhoo trademark by filing an opposition before the Trademark Office.
In May 2005, the Trademark Office rejected Yahoo's claim. Yahoo then appealed to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (the TRAB). After reexamination, the TRAB held that there is a significant distinctiveness between the words of Yahoo and Fayhoo and the classes of services are different. In spite of the evidence submitted by Yahoo, they only cover classes of Internet services, not in capital investment and fund investment which 飞虎Fayhoo covers. Therefore,飞虎Fayhoo did not infringe Yahoo's trade name and no trademark infringement was constituted.
