Well known life sciences company, Sanofi and it's Chinese brand name '赛诺菲' are highly regarded in the Chinese market. Unfortunately, these brands have been the targets of misuse across a wide range of industries including fraudulent examples such as 'Sanofi Environmental Protection Technology' and 'Sanofi Biotechnology'.
Sanofi has been successfully undertaking numerous actions against such uses including a recent landmark win. Sanofi began trade mark invalidation proceedings for the "Sanofi 赛诺菲" trade mark which was approved and registered on Class 11 Air purification devices and machines.
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that after long-term, widely publicised usage the "Sanofi" and "赛诺菲" trade marks are constituted as well-known trade marks. The owner of the disputed trade mark improperly took advantage of Sanofi's widely known brand, and the disputed trade mark was successfully declared invalid. This case was a success for Sanofi's future brand protection and will be a great reference when dealing with similar infringement cases in the future.
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