Tencent wins final trial in dispute over "Weishi" trademark

2022/08/02

On July 8, Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. published a number of second-instance administrative judgments with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). The case numbers were No. 2833, second instance, administrative case, (2021) Beijing High People's Court, No. 2839, second instance, administrative case, (2021) Beijing High People's Court, No. 2690, second instance, administrative case, (2021) Beijing High People's Court, and the trial courts are Beijing High People's Courts. The judgments of the cases as mentioned above show that the disputed trademarks are "Tencent Weishi" and "Tencent Weishi Camera" trademarks registered by Tencent, and the cited trademarks are multiple "Weishi" trademarks registered by Gaojie Shengshi Company. The trademarks mentioned above are all scientific instruments in classification. In January 2020, CNIPA issued a ruling on the invalidation of the disputed trademark. The court of the second instance found that the trademark in dispute was the word mark "Tencent Weishi", and the prominent part of each cited trademark was "Weishi" or its English translation. However, the textual composition of both included the meaning of "Weishi", the disputed trademark has added text "Tencent" apparently. Compared with the cited trademarks, there are certain differences in the disputed trademark's overall pronunciation and structure elements. The court held that the original judgment and the accused ruling should be revoked by law. The final result of the judgment was to revoke the first-instance judgment and make a new ruling on the request for invalidation of the disputed trademark.