On March 30, 2020, the Supreme People’s Court issued a retrial decision, confirming previous judgments rendered by Hangzhou Intermediate Court and Zhejiang High Court, which had dismissed an infringement claim initiated by a Chinese registered trademark owner against the world-famous brand Michael Kors. The courts, however, took the precaution to explain that, when the prior (or senior) trademark has a low reputation and the later (or junior) trademark is well known, there is a risk of “reverse confusion” to the effect that the “senior” trademark might be deprived of the ability to expand because the consumers may be misled to believe that its products carry the well-known brand. In such a situation, the courts consider that protection should still be granted to the owner of the “senior”, registered yet unknown to the public, trademark.

In this case, however, the decisions were rendered against the owner of the “senior” registered trademark. The first and second instance courts and finally the Supreme People Court, found that the case had been filed in bad faith, and dismissed the claim. More details about the case will follow.

Contributed by: Zhigang Zhu