The Beijing Supreme People's Court recently sealed a 11-year trademark dispute between German ZF Sachs AG and a Zhejiang-based rubber company named Yuhuan Boge, affirming the Zhejiang company's trademark squatting.

A third party Yuhuan Fangdi industrial machinery Co. Ltd. filed for trademark registration of No. 1692088 for BOGE in class 17, goods of rubber shock absorber and rubber shock absorbing buffers on October, 2001, the trademark then transferred to Yuhuan Boge in 2010. However, ZF Sachs challenged the trademark and sought rejection of registration.

During the first and second instance trial, the courts held that trademark in question used on the goods class, goods function and target customer is evidently similar with plaintiff's products, so similarity is constituted. Meanwhile, the courts found that the BOGE trademark has been registered by ZF Sachs earlier than Yuhuan Boge and has gained popularity among the consumers. Then the courts denied Yuhuan BOGE's request.

We will follow the development of the case.

(China IP News)