Recently, Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. and the State Intellectual Property Office published the first-instance administrative judgment (case number (2020) Jing 73 Xingchu No. 10993, the trial court is the Beijing Intellectual Property Court). The result of the judgment is to dismiss the claims.
The judgment shows that the disputed trademark is the “MIX” trademark No. 29673851 filed by Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. in March 2018. The designated goods for this trademark are scientific instruments: computers; pedometers; mobile phones; sensors, etc.
The reason why this trademark is rejected is previously registered trademarks by Zhuhai Meizu Technology Co., Ltd., Haier Information Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and other companies.
The court held that the trademark in dispute and each of the cited trademarks contained the distinctive identifying part “MIX”, which was similar in letter composition, meaning, calling, etc., which could easily cause confusion among the public. In view of the fact that the disputed trademark and each of the cited trademarks constitute similar trademarks used on the same or similar goods, the result of the judgment in this case is to reject the plaintiff’s claim of Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd.
Also Read: Xiaomi MIX Fold Review: Not Ideal, Alas
Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. filed an appeal at the second instance after the judgment of the first instance.
The Beijing Higher People’s Court held that the disputed trademark and the goods actually operated by the registrants of the cited trademarks are not necessarily related to the goods designated or approved for use by the trademarks under their names. Xiaomi’s relevant appeal grounds lacked factual and legal basis, and the court did not support it, so the appeal was rejected and the original judgment was upheld.