Italy GUCCI China'S First Intellectual Property Case Wins

　　近日，国际顶级奢侈品生产商、意大利企业GUCCI公司获得了在华首个知识产权案胜诉。根据宁波市中级人民法院的判决，宁波奥特莱斯购物有限公司构成对GUCCI的不正当竞争，并赔偿人民币5万元。

It is understood that in May 1983, GUCCI was allowed to register the "GUCCI" trademark in China. The approved products included clothing, shoes, hats, socks, neckties, travelling bags and wallets. In 2000, the "GUCCI" trademark was included in the "national key trademark protection list". In 2005, the industrial and commercial departments of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities issued Circular notices that goods without "GUCCI" logo could not be sold without authorization from trademark owners.

In April 2009, the plaintiff GUCCI company found that Ningbo's orbits company authorized the "GUCCI" to be used prominently on the billboards of the 108 shops on the new North Road "Fortune Center" in Jiangbei District. At the same time, Ningbo outlets company also highlighted the use of the "GUCCI" trademark and font in the "international brand story" column of the company's website. According to the plaintiff, the Ningbo outlets company is an enterprise that deals in clothing, clothing, shoes and caps, bags, and other fashionable consumer goods. The goods that it intends to sell and operate is the same commodity as those approved by the plaintiff trademark. Without the permission of the plaintiff, the company will unlawfully use the same words as "GUCCI" trademark as the shop name and use it prominently on the same commodity, and use the "GUCCI" trademark for advertising, which infringes the plaintiff's exclusive right to use the registered trademark.

At the same time, the Ningbo orlies company deliberately used the results of the plaintiff's operation and the popularity and reputation of "GUCCI" for commercial purposes, thereby gaining favorable market competition status and violating the relevant provisions of the anti unfair competition law. To this end, in October 28th last year, GUCCI filed a lawsuit against the intermediate people's Court of Ningbo, requesting that the Ningbo Ortles company immediately cease to infringe its exclusive right to use "GUCCI" registered trademarks, stop unfair competition and compensate for economic losses of RMB 500 thousand yuan.

According to the court decision, the defendant Ningbo outlets Business Co., Ltd. is a retailer engaged in fashion consumer goods such as clothing, clothing, shoes and caps, bags, and so on. "GUCCI" is only a commodity brand that the defendant intends to run. The defendant uses the "GUCCI" trademark and illegally uses the service trademark.

At the same time, the defendant has not yet been opened, and there are no goods sold or ready for sale in the shops concerned. The evidence provided by the plaintiff can not prove that the defendant's use of the "GUCCI" logo is used as a trademark. Therefore, the plaintiff considers that the defendant's allegation of trademark infringement is lacking in factual basis and can not be established.

However, without the permission of the plaintiff, the defendant unauthorized use of "GUCCI" as the shop head of the shop, which directly took advantage of the plaintiff's operating results and the reputation of "GUCCI", thereby gaining a favorable market competitive position.

Therefore, the defendant has a subjective intent to elevate his corporate image by way of "free riding", which makes it easy for the public to misunderstand that the defendant's shop is invested or operated by the plaintiff. It is the plaintiff's direct outlets in China or the direct shop jointly established with the defendant.

At the same time, the defendant did not give a comprehensive and complete description of his business in advertising. His ambiguous advertising slogans will make the relevant public think that the goods that the defendant is ready to sell has the same quality and fashion as the commodities of the plaintiff's franchised stores, thus obtaining undeserved competitive advantages, which will cause the plaintiff's interests to be damaged and constitute unfair competition.

Because the defendant has not yet formally opened, the plaintiff can not prove the interests of the defendant because of infringement. According to the actual circumstances of the case, the court decided that the defendant Ningbo outlets limited immediately stopped the unfair competition against the plaintiff GUCCI company and made a compensation of RMB 50 thousand yuan.