Recently, Lawyer Zhang Hong and lawyer Li Shuhua of Beijing Janlea Law Firm represented the Coca-Cola Co., Ltd. in the “CROCO COLA” trademark refusal review administrative litigation and won in the first-instance trial.

The plaintiff, Coca-Cola applied for the registration of the “COCA-COLA” trademark on clothes, shoes (shoe wears), hats. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board reckoned that “the real thing” could be translated as excellent good, good with high quality, or imported good, which would cause confusion for the public on the quality of the products. Coca-Cola and The Real Thing did not form a new specific concept and thus the applied trademark was refused

After the trial of this case at Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, the court made the first ruling. The court ruled that, no matter which saying the English phrase “The Real Thing”, in the applied trademark, would be translated into, either “excellent good, good with high quality, and imported good” or, “authentic and official goods”, its meaning would not bring negative impact the interests of the public charity or the public order. Therefore, the applied trademark did not violate the Trademark Law in article 10, paragraph 1, item 8. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board’s adjudication was repealed.