Sanyou client: Omron Co., Ltd.
Trial organ: Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration
Trial result: The opposed trademark was not approved for registration, and the disputed trademark was declared invalid.

Case Facts
Omron, founded in 1933, is a world-famous manufacturer of automatic control and electronic equipment, and has mastered the core technology of sensing and control.

In recent years, Omron has found a large number of sales of smart watches branded with “殴姆珑海联芯” on e-commerce websites. The "殴姆珑海联芯" smart watch has the function of measuring blood pressure, blood oxygen and heart rate. Its functions are similar to those of "欧姆龙"(Omron’s brand). In addition, this product intentionally magnifies the three characters of "殴姆珑" on the introduction page, causing confusion on the source of goods and misleading some consumers to consider it as a product of "欧姆龙". Therefore, Omron entrusted Beijing Sanyou to take countermeasures against the trademark "殴姆珑海联芯" on Class 9 and Class 35.

Sanyou’s trademark team found, after investigation, that Shenzhen Zhiqin (the trademark applicant in dispute) had repeatedly applied for signs similar to "欧姆龙", such as "欧姆珑、鸥姆珑、殴姆珑", which were all rejected by CNIPA. With the free riding tactics failed, Shenzhen Zhiqin added other Chinese characters after the variant characters such as "殴姆珑", so that the relevant public could associate with the applicant's "欧姆龙" brand and avoid rejection.

In view of this, Sanyou attorneys conducted a thorough investigation into the trademark registration application submitted by the respondent, including the number of trademark applications, time span, class coverage, specific composition of trademark representations, actual use of the trademark, and whether there are other illegal operations.

Sanyou’s investigation revealed that Shenzhen Zhiqin and its affiliated companies had opened multiple e-commerce stores on Tmall and JD platforms to sell the "殴姆珑海联芯" brand smart watch. In actual use, the first three Chinese characters  are intentionally enlarged, and the background color of the first three characters is red, which is very eye-catching, and is very similar to Omron’s core trademark of "欧姆龙" in terms of text composition, overall appearance, and pronunciation. Many consumers have confused the disputed trademark "殴姆珑海联芯" with the applicant's quotation trademark "欧姆龙".

The information on the internet is constantly updated, so the collection and preservation of online evidence must be carried out in a timely manner. In order to prevent Shenzhen Zhiqin from modifying product sales information or deleting negative comments, Sanyou attorneys immediately notarized the sales pages and consumer product reviews of Shenzhen Zhiqin and its affiliated e-commerce stores, which was more conducive to proving the malicious hitchhiking behavior of Shenzhen Zhiqin.

In addition, the Sanyou attorneys also conducted searches on Shenzhen Zhiqin through enterprise information query platforms such as Qichacha, and found that the company not only violated the principle of honesty and credit when applying for a trademark, but also exaggerated the promotion in product advertising, resulting in administrative penalties. Sanyou attorneys collected a large number of facts and evidence of the respondent's malicious registration applications, and made a detailed statement in the brief of reasons. Finally, the Trademark Office supported Omron's opposstion and invalidation claim.

Typical significance
In this case, there are only 20 trademarks under the name of Shenzhen Zhiqin and the trademark in dispute, "殴姆珑海联芯", is not very similar to "欧姆龙" in terms of text composition and other aspects. However, through the investigation on Shenzhen Zhiqin, it is found that in addition to copying and imitating the well-known trademark of "欧姆龙", there are also many violations of good faith, such as copying other people's well-known trademarks, illegal advertising and other acts. By comprehensively analyzing the similarity of trademarks between both parties, the popularity of previous trademarks, and the subjective intentions of Shenzhen Zhiqin, Sanyou’s aim is to prevent brand infringement, maintain the order of trademark registration management, and create a good business environment. This case fully reflects the strict crackdown taken by the trademark authority against malicious reliance on others' brand names in trademark registration applications.