"博美隆" Trademark was Confirmed for Registration

Institute Nationale des Appelations d'Origines of France (hereafter as to INAO) proposed to revoke the application for registration of the disputed "博美隆" trademark by surnamed Huang from Jiangsu province of China, for Huang's application for registration on wine constituted the plagiarism and imitation from INAO's  geographical indications "POMEROL". Trademark Review and Adjudication Board(hereafter as to TRAB) under State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereafter as to the SAIC) revoked the trademark registration of "博美隆" trademark, then the case was brought to the administrative proceedings. Recently, Beijing Higher People's Court made the judgement that TRAB's decision or revoking the registration of "博美隆" trademark was invalid.

It is understood that the disputed No. 7450657 "博美隆" trademark was applied for registration in June 2009, then approved for use in cocktails and wines in Class 33 products. In July 2011, the INAO submitted application to TRAB.

TRAB held that, "POMEROL" is famous wine origion in France, the pronunciation of disputed trademark "博美隆"and "POMEROL" is similar, and "博美隆" has been using  as corresponding Chinese trademark "BOMEROL" for many years, also, "BOMEROL" and "POMEROL" share the similar appearance and pronunciation. Thus, "博美隆" can easily be mistaken as the translation of "POMEROL" by the relevant public, and then the characteristics of the origin of goods could be mistaken, causing adverse effects. Accordingly, the TRAB revoked the disputed trademark.

Huang refused to accept the decision by TRAB and brought the case to the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court. After the decision by first instance court revoking the decision made by TRAB, the INAO brought the case to the Beijing Higher People's Court.

Beijing Higher People's Court held that, the evidence cannot prove the only even fixed correspondence between "POMEROL" and  "博美隆", so "博美隆" is not known to the public as the Chinese translation or Chinese nickname of foreign location name. And documented evidence is insufficient to prove "POMEROL" is geographical indications on wines merchandise. Accordingly, the Court upheld the decision in the first instance that revoking the decision by TRAB on disputed trademark.