[Case Summary]

In 2020, the "Qiushui Yiren" trademark applied for registration by Qiuziyi Company in Class 35 for promoting and other services for others was opposed by others during the announcement period. The main reason for the opposition was that the applied trademark and its well-known trademark "Qiushui Yiren" registered in Class 25 for clothing and other goods constituted the same trademark in different categories of goods/services, and it was requested that the registration of the subject trademark not be approved based on Article 13 of the Trademark Law.

The Qian Hang legal team accepted the client's commission to make a defense based on the objection request raised by the objector. The cited trademark of the objector is a trademark on Class 25 clothing and other goods, and there are significant differences in usage, users, sales channels, sales habits, and other aspects between it and the services designated by the objected trademark for promoting others. The two do not constitute similar goods/services and will not cause consumer misidentification or confusion.

At the same time, the evidence materials submitted by the objector can only demonstrate that their Class 25 trademark has been protected by Article 13 of the Trademark Law. However, the evidence submitted by the objector is insufficient to prove that the cited trademark has reached the level of a well-known trademark in this case, nor is it sufficient to prove that its level of fame can radiate to the related services of Class 35. In addition, the respondent Qiuziyi Company successfully registered the "Qiushui Yiren" service trademark in Class 35 in 2010 and has been continuously using it for many years. The trademark in question is a supplementary application to the original prior trademark, and the purpose of the application is reasonable, legal, and reasonable. 

[Result of Trial]

The objection in this case has now been completed, the Trademark Office supports and recognizes our proposition, and finally decides: the designated use of the trademark in question and the well-known goods of the opponent's trademark are less related, the coexistence of the two will not cause consumer confusion, the registration and use of the disputed trademark will not lead to misleading the public, and the class 35 "Qiusuiyi" trademark is approved for registration.

[Case Analysis]

The cross-class protection of well-known trademarks is a more important reason for the opponent to object to the application for trademarks. In previous cases, the court's view on the cross-class well-known trademark is: well-known trademark is only a trademark with high visibility, even if it is recognized as a well-known trademark, it does not necessarily give its full class protection. As in this case, the protection of the cited mark in Class 25 does not necessarily prevent the registration of the contested mark in Class 35. In the face of the notice of objection defense, for the cross-class protection of well-known trademarks, it is necessary to consider not only the well-known degree of fame of the well-known trademark, but also the correlation between the goods used by the well-known trademark and the goods used by the opposed trademark. If the distance between the two trademark goods is too far, the protection scope of the well-known trademark may not be extended to the goods used by the opposed trademark.