The Disputed Mark "Yiqi Hongqi" (FAW Red Flag in Chinese) with reg. no. 29148123 was filed on February 6, 2018 and approved on March 7, 2019 for use on automobiles; automobile wheels; automobile tires and other goods in Class 12. The current trademark owner is China FAW Corporation.
Hualin Jiatong Company cited its " 
" "
" " 
" marks to invalidate the Disputed Mark.
The CNIPA found the marks were similar and held that the Disputed
Mark should be invalidated on the similar goods of "tires for
vehicles; automotive tires."
China FAW Corporation appealed the unfavorable decision.
After hearing, the Beijing IP Court found that: the Disputed Mark consists of the Chinese characters for "FAW Red Flag" in ordinary font, the Cited Marks contain the stylized Chinese characters of "Red Flag," and the Cited Marks 1 and 3 also contain related design. Looking at the development history of the "Red Flag" trademarks owned by China FAW Corporation and Hualin Jiatong Corporation on automobile products and tire products respectively, it can be concluded that the "Red Flag" trademarks owned by both companies were adopted by their predecessors under special historical backgrounds and economic systems. The legitimate rights obtained from their own operations should be protected in accordance with the law. It should be pointed out that although the three Cited Marks are currently valid trademarks, Hualin Jiatong Company recognized that it stopped using the "Red Flag in Chinese" trademark after introducing foreign investment in 2003. In 2004, China FAW Corporation successively applied for marks incorporating "Red Flag in Chinese" on vehicle tire products, which were subsequently approved. Until Hualin Jiatong Company resumed use of the "Red Flag" trademark in 2020, there were many "Red Flag" marks on the market on tires related goods. On this basis, China FAW Company applied for the Disputed Mark in 2018 and added its well-known word "FAW in Chinese" before the word "Red Flag," which in fact helped the relevant public to distinguish on tire products produced between China FAW Company and Hualin Jiatong Company. In addition, the tire goods in this case have a special relationship with the well-known automobile products of China FAW Corporation, which are complete products and major parts. The two products are highly related. The popularity of China FAW Corporation's "Red Flag" trademark on automobile products can be extended to tire goods. Taking the above factors into consideration, the coexistence of the Disputed Mark with the three Cited Marks on the product "tires for vehicles; automobile tires" will not easily lead to confusion and misunderstanding by the relevant public.
Hualin Jiatong Company was dissatisfied with the original judgment and appealed to the Beijing High Court. In the second-instance, the court held an inquiry and China FAW Corporation admitted that after securing registration of trademarks containing the word "Red Flag" on tire products in 2004, there was no relevant evidence of use.
The Beijing High Court found that the Disputed Mark and the Cited Marks 1-3 were similar in terms of text composition, pronunciation, meaning, and overall appearance, and thereby constituted similar marks. The evidence on file submitted by China FAW Corporation was insufficient to prove that the Disputed Mark can be distinguished from the Cited Marks through use. In addition, although the "Red Flag in Chinese" and "FAW in Chinese" trademarks owned China FAW Company were relatively famous on automobile products, the evidence in the case was not enough to prove that its popularity on automobile products has extended to the " tires for vehicles; automobile tires" goods used under the Disputed Mark. Therefore, the registration of the Disputed Mark on the goods "tires for vehicles; automobile tires" and the three Cited Marks constitute similar trademarks used on the same or similar goods and should be declared invalid.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
