[4] Malicious trademark squatting leaves Peppa Pig rights holders aggrieved! How to protect trademark rights warrants deep thought
On September 22, Niall Trainor, Senior Director of Brand Protection for the Family and Brands business of Entertainment One UK Limited, the owner of the Peppa Pig trademark and copyright, stated that the Peppa Pig trademark had been maliciously preemptively registered in China. Based on the absolute volume of infringing sales, it is no exaggeration to say that they have lost tens of millions of dollars in China alone.
Peppa Pig's official trademark registration failed, putting the legitimate rights holder in an awkward position. Since 2013, Astley Baker Davies Ltd has been applying to register the trademark "Peppa Pig" for goods and services including puppets, building blocks, plush toys, game balls, and balloons, covering categories 8, 10, and 28, with some registrations successful. However, when the company applied to register the trademark "Peppa Pig" under Category 25 in March 2013, it was rejected.
In June 2015, after "Peppa Pig" entered China, multiple character names, images, nicknames, and logos from the Peppa Pig animation began to be maliciously preemptively registered, covering almost all categories of licensed goods, for example:
1. Shenzhen Lisheng Technology Co., Ltd. applied in 2016 to register the trademark "George Pig" under Category 28 for goods and services including game consoles, chess, and puppets, and successfully registered it in January 2018.
2. An applicant named "Cai X" successively applied to register approximately 140 character names and graphics (including originals and approximations) such as "Peppa Pig," "Pink Peppa Pig," "Peppa's Home," and "Pei Pei Pig."
3. An individual named "Zhang Baohua" submitted a total of 41 trademark registration applications related to "Peppa Pig" to the National Trademark Office between April and August 2018.
By the end of 2017, as Peppa Pig became popular on Chinese social media, many infringing derivative products appeared online. In the past six months, Entertainment One UK Ltd has raised the "anti-piracy flag," but due to malicious preemptive trademark registrations, the difficulty of combating counterfeits has increased.
From the chaos behind the "Peppa Pig" trademark, we can't help but wonder: how should intellectual property be effectively protected? Today, Zhiming lawyers teach you how to defend against trademark infringement.
