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Dez 03, 2012
Deanna Wong, Hogan Lovells, China/Hong Kong
Yang Tao, Hogan Lovells, China/Hong Kong

Muji: Is OEM Manufacturing Deemed as Trademark Use?


Deanna Wong, Hogan Lovells, China/Hong Kong, Yang Tao, Hogan Lovells, China/Hong KongThe Japanese company, Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., is the holding company that operates the exclusive Muji stores seen internationally. Recently, the Supreme People’s Court ("SPC") upheld a Beijing Higher Court’s decision in an administrative litigation case and essentially rejected Muji's plea to recover its hijacked mark by adducing evidence of use of its mark in the context of OEM manufacturing products for export. The SPC held that evidence of such OEM use is not sufficient for the purposes of showing that a mark has been "used and achieved a certain amount of influence in China" as stipulated in Article 31 of the PRC Trademark Law. Article 31 states that "An application for registration of a trademark shall not be of such a nature as to infringe the existing earlier right of another person. An application shall not be made with intent to register a trademark which is used by another person and enjoys certain reputation". Muji was seeking to recover its hijacked mark on this basis.  read more