Case Summary:

Unitalen client Ferrari (the plaintiff) is the registrant of “法拉力” and “Ferrari” and its horse image trademark in Class 12 for use in cars and other goods since 1995. The defendant had registered “法拉利” trademark in Class 33 for use in wines goods. Meanwhile, the defendant used “法拉利”, “Falali” (the pinyin of 法拉力 and 法拉利) , the similar horse image trademarks in their wine products, as well as displaying the name and pictures of Enzo Ferrari, car races and so on to imply the connection with Ferrari. In addition, the defendant used “法拉利” as their business name and named one of its wine product after the plaintiff’s car model.

Court Ruling:

Unitalen brought the case to the Intermediate People's Court of Changsha, Hunan and the court made the following deicion of the first instance:

(1) The defendant shall immediately stop the infringement of the plaintiff’s trademark exclusive rights;

(2) The defendant shall immediately stop using 法拉利” as its business name;

(3) The defendant shall pay the plaintiff the idemnity of 2 million yuan for economic losses;

(4) The defendant shall publish statement in the "Xiaoxiang Morning News" to eliminate the impact.

Typical Significance:

Firstly, the defedant’s “法拉利” trademark was approved and stayed active during the trial of first instance, although it was later invalidated. The plaintiff therefore need to prove its trademark had constituted wellknown trademark prior to the registration of the defedant’s trademark. This achivement thus knowcked out the obstacles of right conflict and had the court hold that the alleged trademark constitute infringement.

Secondly, the alleged trademark had been registered for over 5 years. The limitation of 5-year protection period was broken through proving the well-known trademark of the plaintiff and the milicious intention of the defendant, which has gained the support by the court.