It is understood that the products that Nippon was convicted of infringement are still sold in some professional building materials markets in Guangzhou. The related production department of Nippon Company confirmed to the reporter that this was a product produced before the verdict of the case, and the Chinese characters of “Yongdeli†and “Meideli†were no longer used in the judged products.
It is understood that Nippon Products, which has registered Matex and Vinielex trademarks in foreign countries, has entered China since 1992. Since Nippon Co., Ltd. has embraced the foreign customary thinking of “using trademarks first,†it has not handled the Chinese language of the trademark in China. The registration of the trademarks "Yongdeli" and "Meideli". However, in China, the principle of “registered trademark first†was adopted. By 1998, when Nippon Co. wanted to register a trademark, it was discovered that it had been registered. In March 1993, the Shantou Trade and Commerce Bank registered two Chinese word marks “Yongdeli†and “Meideli†with the State Trademark Office. In November 2000, Guangzhou Botny Chemical Co., Ltd. was transferred from the Hong Kong-Hai Trading Company. These two trademarks became the exclusive rights holders of the two trademarks. In April 2004, the National Trademark Office approved the renewal of the registration of these two trademarks and the validity period was extended to May 20, 2014.
In December last year, Botny company formally sued Nippon Paint (China) Co., Ltd. and Langfang Libang Paint Co., Ltd., saying that the words “Yongdeli†and “Meiteli†used in their products constitute trademark infringement and claims. 21 million yuan. During the trial, Nippon repeatedly emphasized that Matex and Vinilex have been used in overseas markets for many years and have registered their English trademarks. “Middleland†and “Yongdeli†are Chinese transliteration names in English and do not constitute infringement. However, according to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law of China, even if Nippon believes that "Meideli" and "Yongdeli" are unique names of well-known commodities, they also violate relevant laws and regulations. According to this court, Nippon lost the lawsuit.
Chinese and foreign companies have caused complaints due to differences in the principle of trademark registration that Libang refused to lose "Shuangli"
After a one-year stay in Guangzhou Botny Chemical Co., Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Nippon Steel Co., Ltd. for trademark infringement, a decision was made in September of this year that Nippon Steel Co., Ltd., convicted of infringement and compensation for the plaintiff’s 7.6 million yuan, was unwilling to lose. The right to use "Yongdeli" and "Meideli" has already been appealed to the High Court of Jiangsu Province for a commutation. The plaintiff Bonty Company had also filed an appeal and requested Nippon Steel to issue an apology at the same time. This is what the reporter learned yesterday from the two parties.