Did you “gang up” today ? “Honor of Kings” as a booming mobile game subordinate to Tencent, it is believed that many people have heard of it, however, the topic that “Honor of Kings” was registered as a trademark of wine became a top topic on various news platforms for a time. Beijing Intellectual Property Right Court opened an on-line court session to hear the dispute over trademark of “Honor of Kings” on March 17, 2020. In terms of commodity, the trademark passed review by Beijing Intellectual Property Right Court in 2018, in the same year, Tencent made a request for declaration for invalidity against No. 18379954 trademark of “Honor of Kings” (Hereinafter referred to as disputed trademark) registered by Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd. In June 19, the reason for which was that the disputed trademark infringed on prior copyright of Tencent and that it constituted similar trademark between similar goods and is more likely to give rise to public misunderstanding of No.18126671 trademark of “Honor of Kings” (Hereinafter referred to as cited trademark) of Tencent.
It is reported that Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd took “Honor of Kings” as a trademark and registered it in goods including “ fruit wine (alcoholic)” in category 33 in 2015 and that such trademark was accepted in review by State Intellectual Property Office in 2018, on June 19 of the year, Tencent requested for declaration of invalidation of No. 18379954 trademark of “Honor of Kings” (hereinafter referred to as disputed trademark) registered by Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd, the reason for which was that the disputed trademark infringed on prior copyright of Tencent, constituting similar trademark in similar goods with No. 18126671 trademark of “Honor of Kings” of Tencent (hereinafter referred to as reference trademark), which is more likely to mislead the public.
State Intellectual Property Office considered that the two did not constitute similar trademark between similar goods, the trademark registered by Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd is limited to goods including“fruit wine (alcohol), however, the trademark registered by Tencent is limited to goods including“electronic publication (downloadable) , there is distinct difference between the two in marketing location and service object.
State Intellectual Property Office pointed out that“King of Glory” is printed Chinese characters in common, which are unable to express the idea and feeling of the works and not belongs to the works under protection stipulated in“Copyright Law of China, in addition, the disputed trademark text has no circumstance such as deceptive hype defined in item 7 of sub-article 1 in article 10 of Trademark Law and there is no circumstance of getting registered by deception or unfair competition defined in sub-article 1 of article 44 of Trademark Law.
For the above reasons, State Intellectual Property Office supports the trademark registered by Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd and the Tencent’s request for declaration for invalidity against the trademark failed.
Tencent refused to accept the verdict by State Intellectual Property Office and filed an appeal to Beijing Intellectual Property Right Court, Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd participated in the action as third party. During court hearing, Tencent as plaintiff requested the Court to order the defendant to bring in a verdict again.
In court hearing, Tencent claimed that King of Glory is a high-profile game developed and operated by Tencent, with an experience of being used in alcoholic beverage, catering, such as set meal released in cooperation with Mcdonald and Sprite launched in work with Coca-Cola etc. The disputed trademark used for relevant goods such as fruit wine is likely to give the public a false impression that it is related to or accepted by Tencent.
In addition, Tencent also claimed that the registration of the disputed trademark was out of malicious intent. Guizhou Wenqu Chengyu Wine Co.,Ltd also applied a series of trademarks associated with“King of Glory”, such as“Return of King of Glory”,“King of Honor”,“Glory of King” ,“King of Glory 1+1” etc. Its legal representative also set up“Guizhou King of Glory Wine Co.,Ltd”, indicating that he intended preemptive registration of the trademark to seek illegitimate benefit.
State Intellectual Property Office made open reply that it disagree with the request of appeal from Tencent, upholding verdict.
The case was not adjudged on the court and now the case is in further proceedings.