Win The "Copycat" Trademark Infringement NB Can Land Lost?

New Balance, the king of jogging shoes troubled by "Shanzhai", has launched a trademark war in China. NB Recently, NB filed a lawsuit against the new Bai Lun Limited by Share Ltd in Jinjiang, Fujian. The Nanjing intermediate people's court found that the defendant Fujian new Bai Lun constituted a trademark infringement. It should immediately stop the infringement and compensate the NB company for economic losses of 3 million yuan and a reasonable expenditure of 550 thousand yuan.

In the industry view, although NB won the trademark case, opened a new channel for its marketing, but the path of safeguarding rights is not easy. Because of the fact that Chinese names have been snatch, NB has been lacking in the determination of localization. If we want to recover the market occupied by "Shanzhai" products, we still have a long way to go.

　　 Trademark rights protection

According to the referee's official website, in 2019, NB found that there was a sneaker brand named "NIUBANLUNSI" which was very similar to the "New Balance" brand in the market. Besides, the "NIUBANLUNSI" brand sneakers also use capitals, bold and sloping "N" letters on both sides of the sneakers. Subsequently, NB company prosecuted trademark infringement and constituted unfair competition and prosecuted the "NIUBANLUNSI" sports shoes manufacturer and seller, new Bai Lun, to the Nanjing intermediate people's court.

After hearing the trial, the Nanjing intermediate people's court made a first instance judgment, ordered the defendant to immediately stop the infringement and compensate the NB company for economic losses of 3 million yuan and a reasonable cost of 550 thousand yuan. Meanwhile, the defendant, new Bai Lun, must change the name of the enterprise containing "new Bai Lun".

For the specific details of the case and future planning issues, the Beijing Commercial Daily reporter tried to contact NB for an interview. Its customer service staff said that it was not clear about the matter. Then the reporter called NB's registered company operator in China but failed to get through.

It is noteworthy that this is not the first time that NB has won a trademark dispute. According to the referee's official website, in August 18, 2017, the Suzhou intermediate people's court made a first instance judgment against the defendants' infringement on the right of NB sports shoes, the well-known trademark of NB shoes, such as manufacturers and sellers of Shenzhen new balance sports and sporting goods Co., Ltd., and ordered the defendants to immediately stop the infringement and unfair competition, eliminate the impact, and make a total compensation of up to tens of millions of yuan in economic losses and reasonable expenses in the case of N.

Economist Song Qinghui believes that the success of NB in trademark is a landmark event compared with the previous trademark's exclusive right to decorate. After all, you can easily identify the "N" letter on the NB brand. With the improvement of government guidance and compensation for intellectual property infringement, it means that the future competition of intellectual property rights will become the core competitiveness of enterprises.

　　 Disputes continue

It is understood that the NB brand, founded in 1906, has suffered from "Shanzhai" brand since its entry into the Chinese market in the last century and 90s. When NB first entered the Chinese market, the Chinese translation was called "New York". However, "New York" trademark was registered by NB at that time in China. After that, the two companies split up, and NB decided to withdraw from the Chinese market.

In 2003, NB returned to the Chinese market and changed its Chinese name to "new hundred Lun". In 2013, NB was prosecuted to the Guangzhou intermediate people's court by the holder of "new hundred Lun" registered trademark. In June 23, 2016, the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's court made a two adjudication judgment on the "new hundred Lun" trademark dispute, and ordered NB to no longer use the "new hundred Lun" trademark and compensate 5 million yuan.

According to China Trademark online data, in the past 2018-2019 years, NB had 222 cases of disagreement or invalidation against others in China as a new balance company. From the specific trademark involved, the claim for invalidation of "N", "N and map" trademark accounts for a large proportion.

There are 43 cases of trademark disputes under the new balance company. Among them, there are 28 administrative cases. The competitors are New York Bau Lun, new Bailun Star International Group Limited, Hongkong Newell International Holding Limited, Putian Wally Bailey Trading Co., Ltd., Jiangxi new balun company, Guangzhou new balun leading shoe company limited and other natural persons.

Song Qinghui said that many lawsuits show that NB still has many imitators in China, which shows that the company is using legal weapons to avoid such losses.

　　 Localization test

NB wants to develop smoothly in the Chinese market. The problem is that the Chinese market is being registered in the Chinese market. After NB lost its Chinese name for the second time in China, there is no new Chinese name. On its Chinese official website, the Chinese name has not been seen on its products, leaving only the logo "New Balance" or "NB". Only the company's name remains "new hundred Lun Trading (China) Co., Ltd.".

Regarding this, Cheng Weixiong, general manager of textile and clothing management and Shanghai Liang Qi Brand Management Co., Ltd., said that Chinese trademark registration should pay attention to advance layout for foreign-funded enterprises in China. Without proper Chinese names, the promotion of NB in the Chinese market will also be challenged.

Statistics show that in 2009, NB sales in the Chinese market amounted to only 33 million dollars, and in 2017, its performance in the Chinese market has reached US $700 million. According to the NB plan, on the basis of annual sales of $4 billion 500 million in 2018, by 2023, the target of NB was global sales of US $7 billion.

In fact, thanks to the rise of China's running boom, NB, known as the king of jogging shoes, has entered a rapid development in the Chinese market. Previously, NB has revealed that "over the past few years, China has become an increasing number of people who are keen on running, and the Chinese market has become the fastest growing market for NB. At present, NB has more than 4000 retail outlets worldwide. Among them, there are nearly 3000 direct shops in China.

However, Cheng Weixiong said that compared with Nike and Adidas in China, there is still a large gap between the number of NB channels. At the same time, NB homophonic "New York", "new hundred Lun" and other products, in appearance and NB distinguish little, but the price is low, which also makes NB have no advantage in promotion. Although NB has made up the short board of some channels under the electronic business platform, all kinds of "Shanzhai" products have a greater impact on NB on the electronic business platform. According to the intellectual property protection report released by Alibaba, at least 80% of the NB products sold on Taobao online in 2017 were fake or suspicious products.

Cheng Weixiong believes that NB has been snatch Chinese trademarks in the Chinese market, and has already paid for the market share being eaten up and consumers being misled. If we want to achieve the global sales target of US $7 billion, the Chinese market can not afford to lose. In addition to developing trademark rights, the most important thing for NB is to reestablish a Chinese name and lower its value at the same time, sink the channel and recover the share occupied by "Shanzhai" or suspicious products.