McDonald defeated in a trademark dispute

      Disgruntled with the ruling by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) over the registration of ‘MILLIONAIRE米力乃and the figure’ trademark by the third party Wang Kangsheng, McDonald’s Corporation then brought TRAB and Wang to the court and sought reversal of the ruling. The Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court recently made the first instance judgment and upheld TRAB’s decision on the trademark in question.

      On February 21 1996, the trademark, ‘MILLIONAIRE米力乃and the figure was certified to be used in services of restaurants, cafeterias and coffee bars of Class 42. On December 27, 2006, Wang transferred the trademark in question under the approval of Trademark Office (TMO) under SAIC.

      McDonald then challenged the trademark in question to TRAB on the ground of similarity with their registered No. 769369 trademark of M figure and MCDONALD’S, McDonald seek reversal from TRAB, however was denied by TRAB.

      McDonald then brought the case the court and requested reversal of the TRAB’s decision.The court held that combination of the M, the appearance and pronunciation of the marks are in disparity, so no similarity is constituted and no violation of the trademark law is formed. So the decision was made above.
( By Zhang Di)

FROM 【CHINA REPORT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY】