Beijing 1st Intermediate Court made a recent ruling against L'Oreal Group (hereinafter refers to as L’Oreal) in a trademark dispute case. The court approved the registration of the trademark “薇姿WEIZI” filed by a person named Liao in March 1999.
L'Oreal has its 薇姿 word trademark approved for registration in class 3 by the Chinese Trademark Office (TMO) on October 14, 1999, covering goods of cosmetics and skin lotion. Liao filed trademark application for registration of 薇姿WEIZI in March 1999, in class 3 for goods of detergents and shoe polish.
Then, L’Oreal challenged registration of 薇姿WEIZI on the ground that 薇姿 is Chinese transliteration of L’Oreal’s mark "VICHY". Both 薇姿 and Vichy have already achieved a strong distinctiveness and are well recognized among the public. Upon review, the court held that though the Chinese characters are the same in the two trademarks, there is a significant difference between their designated goods in functions and uses. The goods are non similar Therefore, the court maintained the decision by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board in favor of the registration of 薇姿WEIZI, and no trademark infringement was constituted.
