In a final decision made by Beijing Higher People's Court, an administrative appeal lodged by Gillette, a world leading razor manufacturer, against Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) of China in a trademark case, was recently concluded. Gillette won the  trademark dispute.

In April, 2005, Hu Yongzhou, a person owning a Jiangxi-based company, filed the No. 4613233"GILERE"trademark application on Class 8, products of shaving razor, razor blades and tweezers etc. Gillette then challenged Hu's application on grounds of similarity with their registered trademark Gillette on the same Class and sought reversal.

Existing materials reveal that Gillette filed the No. 144138 GILLETTE trademark application and No. 144139 Gillette and figure trademark application in May, 1979, and have been granted to Class 8 products of shaving razor. In the case mentioned above, TRAB reversed Hu's GILERE trademark applications on products of shaving razor and sustained the applications on products of tweezers. Disgruntled Hu then filed an administrative lawsuit at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.

Gillette presented to the court five pieces of evidence materials, including profiles of Hu's company, package images of Hu's products and package images of their own and so on, trying to convince the court that Hu's applications were subjected to subjective malicious and Hu's marks could easily confuse the public and similarity was constituted.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court rejected Hu's request on grounds of absence of facts and legal basis, upholding TRAB's decision. Hu then appealed.

Beijing Higher People's Court held that the GILERE trademark in dispute was similar with the references marks of GILLETTE and Gillette on word spelling and pronunciation, which could easily cause confusion among consumers and then made the decision above. 

(China IP News)