Our firm represented the plaintiff, a well-known French brand in an unfair competition lawsuit, and won in effect- the defendants agreed to change the infringing packaging and decoration, and change the company name and compensate for losses

Recently, the plaintiff, a famous French brand represented by our firm, sued the defendants, a Hong Kong company, a Foshan company, a natural person, and a Guangzhou company, in a case of unfair competition. The case was settled through mediation presided by the court. The four defendants shall jointly and severally compensate the plaintiff for the economic losses of 400,000 yuan. The four defendants shall immediately cease and will not use the packaging and decoration that are same or similar to the plaintiff's product packaging and decoration in the future. The defendant the Hong Kong company and the defendant the Foshan company shall change their trade names respectively within three months after the mediation paper takes effect. At present, the mediation paper has taken effect.
 
One of the defendants in this case, the natural person (citizen of mainland of China), established a company in Hong Kong, and its company name included the word "France" and the plaintiff's registered trademark. Meanwhile, the natural person also established a company in Foshan in mainland of China, and its company name contained the plaintiff’s registered trademark. The Hong Kong company, the Foshan company, the natural person, and the Guangzhou company jointly produced and sold skin cleanser products with packaging and decoration which are similar to the plaintiff's skin cleanser products in mainland of China. The skin cleanser products of the defendants were marked with the name of the Hong Kong company and the Foshan company. The Guangzhou company was a manufacturer of the skin cleanser products.  
 
In December 2021, our firm represented the plaintiff and filed a civil lawsuit with the court, claiming: 1. The way in which the four defendants registered and used the plaintiff's registered trademark as the trade name of the enterprise could easily lead to the relevant consumers directly mistaking the defendants’ products for the plaintiff's products, or that the defendants had a specific connection with the plaintiff. The act of the four defendants violated the provisions of Article 6(4) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and constituted unfair competition. 2. The plaintiff's skin cleanser products have established a very high market reputation in China. The four defendants, knowing the plaintiff's skin cleanser products, used packaging and decoration similar to those of the plaintiff's products on the same products, which violated Article 6(1) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and constituted unfair competition.  
 
During the evidence collection stage of this case, our firm has collected a large amount of evidence to prove that the plaintiff's registered trademark and skin cleanser products have established a very high market reputation in the Chinese market. At the same time, several notarized purchases were made for the accusing infringing products, and a detailed comparison was made between the packaging and decoration of the accusing infringing products and the plaintiff's products.  
 
In June 2022, after mediation presided by the court, the parties reached the following agreement: 1. The four defendants shall cease using immediately and not use in the future any trade name containing the plaintiff’s registered trademark, and shall cease using immediately and not use in the future product packing and decoration which is identical with or similar to the plaintiff’s product packing and decoration. 2. The defendant the Hong Kong company and the defendant the Foshan company shall change their respective names in 3 months after the mediation paper in this case takes effect, and the new names shall not contain any word that is identical with or similar to the plaintiff’s registered trademark. 3. The four defendants shall jointly compensate the plaintiff 400,000 yuan and bear the court fee of this case.