On September 8, 2021, in response to the Request for Instructions submitted by the Sichuan Provincial Intellectual Property Office concerning whether the act of selling goods with the shape identical with other’s device mark registered on similar goods constitutes trademark infringement (Chuan Zhi Han [2020] No. 16), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) affirms that No. 768790 device mark owned by Chanel and No. 15395177 device mark owned by Van Cleef & Arpels SA have gained high reputation and distinctiveness. The aforesaid marks, which have formed a unique correspondence with the right holders, are closely associated with their right holders by the relevant consumers. Using these device marks as product shape would function as source identifier of the goods, thus is likely to cause confusion among the relevant public. Based on the finding, the CNIPA concludes that such behavior constitutes trademark infringement as provided in Article 76 of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law, which reads “the use of a sign identical with or similar to other’s registered trademark as product name or decoration on the same or similar goods, which misleads the public, constitutes infringement upon the exclusive right to use a registered trademark as stipulated in Article 57 (2) of the Trademark Law.”

By Mingming Yang