[Case Summary]

Zhejiang Tower Brand Company's main brand "Lichun" is a well-known trademark. Since its registration, it has enjoyed high popularity and reputation among the relevant public through continuous and extensive promotion and use, and is familiar to a large number of consumers.

Through monitoring, we found that a company in Liaoning applied for the registration of "Lidechun" trademark in Category 33 on June 27, 2022, and its products were "Baijiu, yellow rice wine", etc. We believe that the "Lidechun" trademark contains the words "Li" and "Chun", with the "De" character having weak distinctiveness. The overall trademark is similar to the "Lidechun" trademark and is registered on Class 33 alcoholic products, which can easily confuse or misidentify consumers about the source of the goods. The tower company then entrusted our company to file an opposition application against the trademark.

[Result of Trial]

The case has now been concluded, and the result is as follows: the trademark "Lidechun" will not be registered.

After examination, the Trademark Office believes that the opposed trademark and the cited trademark of the objector have essentially the same functional use as the designated goods, and belong to similar goods. The opposed trademark "Lidechun" and the Chinese part of the cited trademark "Lidechun" by the objector are similar in terms of text composition. Therefore, both trademarks have constituted similar trademarks used on similar goods, and their coexistence may cause confusion and misidentification among consumers. Therefore, the "Lidechun" trademark will not be registered.

 [Case Analysis]

At present, most countries in the world have a trademark opposition system in their trademark laws, which aims to protect the rights of other prior rights holders through public supervision and is a supplement to the trademark examination system.

In practice, enterprises or individuals can entrust us to conduct regular monitoring of key trademarks. If similar trademark applications are found to have entered the announcement period, the trademark opposition application procedure can be initiated to safeguard their relevant rights and interests.