Same accommodation, this orange is not that "orange".
[2] Compiled from: Shandong High Court
Case review
The plaintiff, Orange Hotel Management (China) Co., Ltd., is a well-known high-end chain hotel. The company has registered trademarks such as "Orange Hotel," with the approved services including accommodation (hotels, boarding houses). The defendant, a company in Qingdao, included the word "Orange" in the name of its homestay and published merchant information under that name on the Meituan APP and Dianping APP. During the defendant's operations, many negative reviews were left by users in their follow-up comments on hotel services, and the plaintiff believed this infringed on its trademark rights.
The plaintiff argued that the above name and logo were identical or highly similar to its registered trademarks, causing consumer confusion and misidentification, damaging the plaintiff's goodwill and causing economic losses, constituting trademark infringement and unfair competition. It therefore filed a lawsuit with the court, requesting an order for the defendant to cease infringement, eliminate the impact, and compensate for economic losses of 150,000 yuan.
Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 57
Any of the following acts constitutes an infringement of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark:
(1) Using a trademark identical to a registered trademark on the same goods without the permission of the trademark registrant;
(2) Using a trademark that is similar to a registered trademark on the same goods, or using a trademark that is identical or similar to a registered trademark on similar goods, without the permission of the trademark registrant, where such use is likely to cause confusion;
(3) Selling goods that infringe upon the exclusive right to use a registered trademark;
(4) Counterfeiting or manufacturing without authorization the labels of another person's registered trademark, or selling such counterfeited or unauthorized labels;
(5) Replacing another person's registered trademark with a different trademark without the consent of the trademark registrant and putting the goods with the replaced trademark back into the market;
(6) Intentionally providing convenient conditions for acts that infringe upon another person's exclusive right to use a trademark, or assisting others in committing such infringement;
(7) Causing other damage to another person's exclusive right to use a registered trademark.
[1] Court Opinion
The defendant's business scope includes hotel management, which falls under the same category of services as those designated for the plaintiff's registered trademark, establishing a direct competitive relationship. The defendant's use of a hotel name containing "Orange" for external operations demonstrates subjective intent to leverage the plaintiff's trademark reputation, which is sufficient to cause confusion among relevant consumers, constituting infringement of the plaintiff's exclusive right to use the registered trademark and unfair competition.
Considering factors such as the duration of use of the involved registered trademark, public recognition, the degree of the defendant's subjective fault, the nature and circumstances of the infringement, and the reasonable expenses incurred by the plaintiff in this case, the court orders the defendant to compensate the plaintiff 60,000 yuan, immediately cease the infringing activities, and delete the information published on the relevant APP.
[1] The author's perspective
China's vast territory has given rise to numerous famous tourist cities, with annual tourist numbers reaching tens of billions, leading to the emergence of a large variety of internet-famous guesthouses. To gain popularity, these guesthouses often develop a tendency to "ride on the coattails" of well-known brands when naming themselves, resulting in unauthorized use of names and logos protected by others' intellectual property rights, thereby disrupting normal market order and even triggering related lawsuits.
As our country's economy steadily develops, it has also begun to place great emphasis on the protection of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property cases are becoming increasingly diverse, posing a significant challenge to our existing intellectual property legal system and the professional competence of judges, while also serving as an infinite driving force. Only through continuous protection of intellectual property rights and improvement of relevant laws can market order be better maintained and high-quality industrial development be promoted.
