Lawyers Zhao Jing and Cao Ying from Li Peng's legal team at Gaopeng (Shanghai) Law Firm have accepted the commission of Lianhua Supermarket Co., Ltd., a leading enterprise in the domestic supermarket industry, to represent them in the case of trademark infringement and unfair competition disputes with a chain operated supermarket in Shanghai. Recently, the Minhang District People's Court of Shanghai has publicly pronounced the verdict. In this case, Lawyer Gao Peng's lawsuit ultimately gained full recognition from the court. The first instance court ordered the defendant to stop the infringement behavior, compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling over 7.24 million yuan, and publish a statement on the non gap position of the Xinmin Evening News and the defendant's website for no less than 30 days to eliminate the impact. This case effectively safeguarded the reputation of Lianhua Supermarket as a state-owned old chain supermarket, and has a warning significance for improper market competition behavior of "free riding and rubbing against famous brands".

Brief Introduction to the Case

In this case, the plaintiff Lianhua Supermarket found that the defendant had registered the "Lianhua Life Center" after the plaintiff applied and was deemed invalid by the Intellectual Property Office, and then registered the "Zhongcai Lianhua" trademark again, using it as the defendant's self operated supermarket logo and licensing it to multiple supermarkets in Shanghai as a store sign. In order to protect the plaintiff's legitimate trademark rights and interests, the plaintiff applied for the defendant's registration of "China Vegetable Lianhua" again to the Intellectual Property Office for invalidity, and filed a civil lawsuit based on infringement of trademark rights and unfair competition disputes.

Lawyer agency ideas

After accepting the commission of Lianhua Supermarket, Lawyer Gaopeng completed on-site infringement notarization of the defendant and other authorized supermarkets located in Minhang District, Pudong New Area, Chongming District, and other six supermarkets in a short period of time. He also notarized the defendant's relevant websites promoting the use of the "China Vegetable Lianhua" logo through platforms such as Baidu, Youku Video, and Dianping, This has laid a solid evidence foundation for the subsequent determination of infringement behavior and whether it constitutes "confusion" by the people's court.

Lawyer Zhao Jing and Lawyer Cao Ying's Court Style

In order to clarify the issue of compensation amount, in the case where the defendant refused to provide their profit data, this case fell into a situation of whether statutory compensation was required. Under this circumstance, Lawyer Gao Peng, through patient and meticulous communication with the People's Court for many times, obtained the investigation order to obtain the defendant's online revenue data from WeChat and Alipay, overcame the impact of the epidemic and went to Hangzhou and Shenzhen for many times to investigate and collect evidence, and the calculation idea of multiplying specific revenue data by gross profit rate was recognized by the People's Court.

On this basis, Lawyer Gao Peng further proposed that the defendant made a huge profit during the operation period and allowed multiple supermarket operators to use similar logos containing the words "Lianhua" as store signs in the Shanghai area through authorization and licensing, expanding the scope and consequences of infringement, and constituting serious circumstances. Punitive compensation should be applied to demonstrate the spirit of the rule of law, and to play the role of punitive compensation in punishing and preventing infringement, The people's court also supports this.

Screenshot of judgment

The first instance of the case lasted about a year and a half. During the process of representing the case, Lawyer Gao Peng provided four proxy opinions and explanations of nearly 20000 words on multiple controversial issues before and after the case, matching case searches, relevant professional articles, and various charts. He also conducted multiple investigations and evidence collection in Hangzhou and Shenzhen, and ultimately obtained a successful judgment in the first instance. With a highly professional service level The rigorous and serious work attitude reflects the firm culture of "integrity and professionalism" at Gaopeng Law Firm, which has won high recognition from clients!