Recently, Mr. Wu Rangjun of Lifang & Partners, represented the S Suofeiya Home Collection Co., Ltd in a trademark and unfair competition dispute against Lu Xiaolin, Yin Fengrong, and Nanyang Sofyell Integrated Ceiling Co., Ltd (Sofyell). On 19th April 2018, the case was named by the Supreme People's Court as a “50 Typical IP Cases of the Chinese Courts in 2017” and by the Zhejiang High People's Court as a “Top 10 IP Protection Case of the Zhejiang Courts in 2017”.

The selected cases involved a number of complex and difficult issues in the areas of trademark and unfair competition law, such as the necessity of confirming well-known trademarks, preventing trademark dilution, the scope of exclusive use and the requirements for a trademark to be confirmed as a well-known trademark.

In this case, the focal point was whether there was a need for well-known trademark confirmation. We argued that a right holder should be allowed to choose from their more than one trademark rights to better serve their interests. Without mechanically applying the judicial interpretation, the Supreme People's Court's Interpretations on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law to the Adjudication of Civil Disputes Cases in Which Protection of Famous Trademarks is Involved, such as “for the purpose of determining facts for handling of trademark cases  ”,

Zhejiang High Court accepted our arguments and confirmed the status of the trademark as well-known in their judgment which is a rare thing in judicial practice. We successfully persuaded the Court to give the right holder choices based on its own trademarks and litigation strategies, which was a breakthrough  in judicial practice and has created new guidance for similar future cases.

This case was selected by Supreme People's Court as a typical IP case, which ensures that it will serve as an important source of future reference.

This was the first time that Suofeiya requested well-known trademark confirmation. The success of this case benefited from our legal team’s in-depth research abilities, rich experience in trademark litigation, as well as their thorough and careful legal analysis, evaluation and planning right from the beginning of the case. This case demonstrates the solid legal skills of the Lifang & Partners team.