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

The third party Zhongshan Zhujiang Beverage Manufacturer applied and registered the opposed trademark “Qoo” on brewery products. Coca-Cola cited the evidence of its registration of “Qoo” and “Qoo Figure” trademarks on water (drink) and juice products and hence proposed opposition.

This series of cases were to be trialed by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. The Court gave the first-instance ruling that the brewery products associated with opposed trademark were similar with the water (beverage) product associated with the cited trademark no.1, in terms of customers and places for sales. The relevant public would normally assume a connection between the two and confusion could easily occur. The opposed trademark and the cited trademark no.1 were all Chinese characters “Ku Er” and only had slight differences in visual display. The two trademarks existed simultaneously on the same or similar products, making it easy for the relevant public to confuse the sources of the products they were associated with. The situation constituted as similar trademarks on same or similar products and thus the adjudication of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board was repealed.