Coca Cola Gets the Preliminary Win in the Case of “Qoo” against “Ku Wawa” in China

It was reported by  the Beijing News and Legal Evening Paper that the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court (“Court”) has sentenced the case Coca Cola charging the infringement of the trademark “Ku Wawa” registered in the against Coca Cola’s copyright of designed trademark “Qoo”, judging that the Trademark Review and Adjudication shall rescind its approval for trademark registration of “Ku Wawa” and make a new decision.

The Court held that the trademark “Ku Wawa” bore no material similarity with  the trademark “Qoo”, which however was registered by Coca Cola in 2001, and for this reason “Ku Wawa” shall not infringe the copyright of “Qoo”. On the other hand, although the registered products of beer of “Ku Wawa” is different from the beverage of “Qoo”, they actually relate in consumers and marketing approaches. Accordingly, the Court decided the trademark “Ku Wawa” constitutes a similar trademark used in the similar products, which could be trademark infringement, and demanded the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board cancel “Ku Wawa” and make a new decision.

The Bridge IP Law Commentary thinks the case mentioned above involves copyright disputes, trademark infringement and other legal problems, and the court has protected the intellectual property right of the enterprise by appropriately applying the Chinese laws. Actually, the legislation of intellectual property right in China currently is relatively completed, so an enterprise suffering intellectual property right infringement can gain protection by Chinese laws if it is willing to pay for the right protection.

Please refer to the following links for more information about trademark law in China.

1. The Actual Term of Trademark Registration in China
2. The Easy Way to Reduce the Cost of International Trademark Application
3. How to Apply for the Trademark Record in China Custom
4. Attention Matters on Registration of Game Trademark in China
5. How to improve the success rate of trademark registration in China?
6. The Rapid Development of Trademark Registration in Middle China
7. Matters for Attention in Trademark Refusal Review in China
8. Introduction of China’s Legal System of Trademark Renewal
9. Introduction on the Regulations concerning the Capital Contribution in IPR or Domain Name in China
10. Could the Unregistered Trademark Legal Protected in China?

Author: Ms. Chen Danhong
Attorney-at-law of DeBund Law Offices
Co-author: Mr. You Yunting
Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Bridge IP Law Commentary
Partner & Attorney-at-law of Shanghai DeBund Law Offices
Email: Bridge@chinaiplawyer.com, Tel: 8621-5213-4900,
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Bridge IP Law Commentary is a website focus on the introduction of commercial laws in China, especially the intellectual property laws. All the posts here are our original works. And all news or cases referred here are from public reports, and our comments or analysis are of due diligence, neutrality and impartiality, representing our own opinions only and are our original works. You may contact us if you have any opinions or suggestions.


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