Deere Company V. Nine Party Beijing Court'S First Case Against Trademark Infringement Of Color Combinations

< p > reporters learned from the second intermediate people's Court of Beijing today that the two defendants in the first instance ordered the two defendants to stop < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_q.asp > infringement" /a ", and to compensate for the loss and reasonable cost of $450 thousand.

It is reported that this is the first case of the a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_q.asp" > trademark law < /a > incorporating the color combination trademark into the protection scope.

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< p > it is understood that in 1997, Deere Company set up a subsidiary in China and began to produce harvesters and tractors in the Chinese market. The harvesters and tractors of their production all adopted the color combination of "green body and yellow wheel".

In March 21, 2009, with the approval of the State Trademark Office, the Deere Company obtained the exclusive right to use the registered trademark for the trademark "the upper part is green and the lower part is yellow", and approved the use of commodities as seventh or twelfth categories, agricultural machinery, combine harvester, cultivator, harvester, grass cutter, bucket truck, tractor and so on.

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< p > Deere Company claims that it has always used the color combination trademark on the harvester products. The trademark has become an important identification mark of the company's products, and is well known and recognized by consumers and industry experts. It has strong significance and high popularity.

Since 2011, the company found that the two defendants used the same marks as the registered trademarks when they produced, sold and publicized their products on the website, which constituted a violation of the exclusive right to apply for the registered trademarks of Deere Company. Therefore, they requested the court to order the two defendants to stop the infringement on the exclusive right to use the registered trademarks, and to compensate for the economic losses and reasonable expenses for a total of 500 thousand yuan.

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< p > for this reason, the two defendant company argued that the registered trademark of Deere Company is a graphic trademark of specified color, rather than a color combination trademark, and the color used on its commodity is also significantly different from that of Deere Company trademark, so that consumers will not be confused.

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< p > > a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_q.asp" > court < /a > after trial, it is considered that the color combination trademark is made up of two or more than two colors, and can distinguish the identification of different goods or services.

The use of color combination trademark should be combined with commodity. The specific form of its use can be changed with the shape of the commodity itself.

In the application, the Deere Company clearly stated that the trademark was a combination of color labels, and the specific location and way of color use was clearly defined in the written description: "green for body, yellow for wheels".

Two the harvester produced and sold by the defendant company is the same as the Deere Company's green and yellow uses, and the arrangement is identical. The color is basically no difference. It is very close in the overall image and expression style. The two have no substantial difference in vision and constitute the same commercial standard.

Therefore, the two defendant constitutes a violation of the exclusive right of the Deere Company to register a registered trademark, and shall bear the legal liability for stopping the infringement and compensation for the loss.

Accordingly, the court made the decision.

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