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

The appellant (plaintiff of the original trial), Walter Watson Ltd., on the grounds that the trademark in dispute, “SMART” violated article 11, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Trademark Law, submitted the claim to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of China to repeal the application for registration of the trademark in dispute.

This case was trialed, twice, by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court and Beijing Higher People’s Court respectively. The final judgment ruled that the product associated trademark in dispute was a beverage, which had a large crowd of relevant public that included a majority of Chinese customers. However, the repellant failed to provide the evidence that would prove that the meaning “richly flavored”, which was included in the dictionary for the word “SMART”, was well known by the relevant public of China. Therefore, the trademark in dispute did not constitute the circumstances described in article 11, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Trademark Law for refusal of trademark registration. The adjudication of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board was, hence, affirmed.