At the end of 2018, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court issued the first-instance judgment on the invalidation administrative case concerning 19 “好聲音” (paraphrase as “the good voice”) series of trademarks, which revoked the 19 invalidation judgements made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) and ordered them to make a new ruling. The plaintiff of the case, Zhejiang Blue Star (Zhejiang Satellite TV Media Company), the TRAB and the Dutch third party, Talpa, did not appeal, so the first-instance judgment has taken effect.

Case Summary:

The invalidation of 19 “好聲音” (paraphrase as “the good voice”) series of trademark was filed by Dutch Talpa in 2016 to the TRAB of P. R. China. The TRAB held that among the 19 trademarks involved, six had constituted similar goods or services to Talpa’s prior trademark , two had violated the "agency squatting" clause, and all were "obtained through the unjust means"; therefore, declared the invalidation of the 19 trademarks involved. Zhejiang Blue Star refused to accept the ruling and appealed to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

Court Judgement:

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that there is a significant difference in the constituent elements between the trademark “藍(lán)巨星好聲音” (paraphrase as “Blue Star Good Voice”) and the cited trademark “the Voice of and V gesture graphic”. The relevant public can distinguish the two, and both of the two parties had taken remedial and preventive measures to avoid confusion and the damage to the interests of consumers can be controlled. The court also held that the registration of the trademarks involved had lessen the problem and possible confusion of the relevant public, so the registration has not violated the provisions of Article 28, so, subject to the above mentioned, the first-instance judgment was made.