On April 24, 2020, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court pronounced a judgment in public, dismissing the plaintiff's claims and upholding the contested decision of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) to declare the "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark invalid. This case, where Zhonglun represented Shenzhen Meixixi Catering Management Co., Ltd. ("HEYTEA Company") as a third-party participant in the administrative lawsuit filed by individual Liang Mou ("Liang") against CNIPA regarding the trademark invalidation of "HEYTEA Brothers", was part of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court's "April 26" World Intellectual Property Day series of events.
Previously, in the invalidation announcement application procedure initiated by HEYTEA Company against the "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark, CNIPA determined that the "HEYTEA" trademark and the "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark were designated to be used on similar services such as "tea houses and cafes" in Class 43. The "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark fully incorporated "HEYTEA". Its concurrent use on similar services was likely to cause consumers to mistake them as a series of trademarks, leading to confusion and misunderstanding regarding the source of services. Consequently, CNIPA declared the "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark invalid. Dissatisfied, the registrant of the "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark, Liang, filed an administrative lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. After hearing the case, the court rendered a first-instance judgment, dismissing Liang's claims and upholding CNIPA's decision to declare the "HEYTEA Brothers" trademark invalid.
As the original creator of cheese bubble tea, originating from an alley called Bianjiangli in Jiangmen, Guangdong, HEYTEA Company is a top-tier internet-famous tea beverage brand in China. It currently operates over 400 directly-managed stores in 35 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Nanjing, and enjoys high popularity and reputation among relevant consumers.
As competitors in the tea and catering industry, Liang and his affiliates, who also operate in Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, not only failed to reasonably avoid the well-known "HEYTEA" trademark, but also maliciously colluded with multiple affiliated parties to maliciously register and use similar trademarks of HEYTEA Company, such as "Xicha", "HEYTEA" and their logos, across various goods and service categories including catering and food. In response to the trademark infringement by Liang and his affiliated entities, HEYTEA Company has filed a civil lawsuit in the Pengjiang District People's Court of Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, which is currently under trial and is a related case to this one. The success in this case will play an important supportive role in HEYTEA Company's proof of the subjective malicious intent of appropriation by Liang and his affiliated entities in the registration and use of marks such as "HEYTEA Brothers" in the civil lawsuit.
Lawyers Yang Weihua, Ji Yuxuan and Liu Chang provided full-range legal services for this case. The Zhonglun Trademark Project Team has long-term provided domestic and overseas intellectual property legal services to HEYTEA Company.
