In a first-instance decision, Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court hands a favor of French company Sephora, denying registration of the trademark 詩芙籣 and Sephola filed by a person surnamed Chen on grounds of similarity with Sephora and infringing Sephora 's prior rights of trade name.

On December 2005, the person Chen filed for the No. 5078922 trademark 詩芙籣 and Sephola on Class 3, commodities of cosmetics for animals.

Sephora challenged Chen's application during the announcement period, but was denied. Sephora then brought the case to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) for re-examination.

TRAB held that the two marks were not used on the same class and would not cause confusion among the consumers. Meanwhile, the evidences provided by Sephora failed to prove Sephora has gained popularity or high reputation on commodities of cosmetics for animals before the date Chen applied.

Disgruntled Sephora filed a lawsuit. The court held that the spelling and pronunciation of 詩芙籣 and Sephola were similar with Sephora and its Chinese translation, and the products of the two marks were also similar. Meanwhile, Sephora has invested a lot on commercial propaganda and has gained high reputation globally. Based on these, the court held that similarity was constituted and Chen's marks have infringed Sephora's.

The court then revoked Chen's trademarks and ordered TRAB to review the case. 

(China IP News)