Sanyou won the final trial of the case involving trademark infringement and unfair competition of ‘龙角散’

Sanyou Client: Ryukakusan Co., Ltd.
Trial Organ: Shanghai IP Court
Trial Result: uphold the ruling of first-instance and dismiss the appeal

Basic facts: Ryukakusan Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ryukakusan), the right holder, was established in Japan in 1928 and is a pharmaceutical company focusing on throat diseases. In 1997, the Ryukakusan trademark was approved for registration and used in China and has enjoyed a high reputation since then. In 2011, Ryukakusan was sold on Tmall and JD.com through overseas procurement and purchasing.

In recent years, having found that there are a large number of candy products that copy and imitate their trademarks, packaging and decoration on the market, the right holder entrusted Sanyou to file a lawsuit.

Sanyou won the trial of first instance. The court ordered defendant to compensate the right holder a total of RMB 200,000 for economic loss and reasonable expenses, and published a statement to eliminate negative impacts. Some convenience store compensated the right holder for a total of RMB 2,500 for economic loss and reasonable expenses.

The infringing party refused to accept the first-instance judgment and appealed to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court. The second instance upheld the first instance judgment as follows.

1. The mark of the infringing party "龍の散" is similar to the registered trademark of the well-known product "龙角散", which leads to confusion and misunderstanding of the relevant public and constitutes trademark infringement.
2. The act of producing and selling "龍の散" throat lozenge is an act of unauthorized use of goods that are similar in decoration to others, and constitutes unfair competition.
3. The use of unapproved design marks and product decorations is suspected of bad faith of taking a free ride of the well-known trademark of the right holder.

The Sanyou attorney team represented the right holder of the case, Ryukosan Co., Ltd. and won the trials of first and second instance.