(Ecns.cn) – McDonald's has recently brought to court the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce after the board rejected its opposition proposal against any Chinese trademark "W" that is approximate to its logo "M".
The case dates back to 2001, when Han Yihe, an independent entrepreneur in Beijing, registered his company Wandefu with the English name Wonderful and a "W" logo, or an inverted "M" according to McDonald's.
In July 2003, McDonald's submitted an opposition to the State Trademark Office, claiming that Wandefu's logo "W" is obviously an inverted "M," McDonald's well-known seal. They claimed it may cause confusion and thus potentially mislead customers and even damage their consumer interests.
In 2010, the TRAB reached a verdict that the "W" logo cannot be registered in services such as restaurants, cafes, hotels, bars, and teahouses, but it can still be used in other businesses. The TRAB also said the evidence provided by McDonald's to prevent all businesses from using the "W" was not sufficient enough to prove its statement.
However, McDonald's was still discontent, and demanded further to completely repeal all registrations using the "W" logo."
In previous trials, Han Yihe also appeared in court as the third party. Han pointed out that the letter "W" is also in pinyin, a phonetic system of the Chinese language, and it resembles the shape of a bowl. He said that there is nothing connected with McDonald's, and one can hardly connect the logo with McDonald's by just looking at the Chinese trademark separately.
