There are tens of millions of restaurants in the market, and creative style accounts for half of them. Although time has changed, the catering industry has become more than just ordinary food. Many restaurants will come up with some special methods because their unique creativity may attract consumers more. So now there are always all kinds of creativity added to the restaurant, and indeed sometimes the restaurant becomes much more lively.
If you like unique restaurants, it’s natural to have the music restaurant Hutaoli. This is a restaurant that integrates music, food, wine, and performances. It has a more cultural atmosphere than a bar and provides cost-effective drinks and food. . Because of its unique style, it also has a certain consumer base in the market, but it is also because of this that it is troubled by imitation.
Recently, the Taizhou Intermediate People’s Court announced the Hutaoli Rights Protection Judgment. A restaurant in Taixing was ordered to compensate 120,000 yuan for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Actually, this is what happened. It started in 2015. On January 14, 2015, Shenzhen Guoyufang registered and obtained the Hutaoli registered trademark, which was approved for use in Class 43 products, including banquet preparation, cafes, restaurants, hotels, restaurants, bar services, etc.; on August 6, 2016, Hezong The company has acquired the ownership of the above-mentioned registered trademarks through transfer.
In the following time, Hezong Company successively registered multiple Hutaoli trademarks, which were approved for use in Class 43 products, including accommodation agencies (hotels, boarding houses), restaurants, bar services, Cafes, teahouses, etc. Then the turning point came. On November 6, 2017, Bo signed the "Hutaoli Tavern Operation Guidance Contract" with Shenzhen Hutaoli Music Culture Co., Ltd.; on May 9, 2018, Taixing Hutaoli was established.
Until the termination of the business guidance contract on May 31, 2019, Taizhou Hutaoli still continued to operate under its trademark. Later, it was confirmed that the "Hutaoli Tavern Operation Guidance Contract" was terminated, and Taixing Hutaoli went through the formalities for changing the company name before December 22 of the same year. The name of the company after the change was not allowed to use "Hutaoli", and "Hutaoli" was not allowed to appear in the pub involved. Hutaoli" related signs.
However, Taixing Hutaoli changed its legal representative and continued to operate. As a result, Hezong Company took Taixing Hutaoli to court for trademark infringement. The original compensation was 200,000 yuan.
After the final resolution, in August 2021, the Taizhou Intermediate People's Court made a judgment on the case. The "Hutaoli" series of registered trademarks involved in the case have a high reputation, and the registered trademarks involved in the case are used every year. The fee exceeded 30,000 yuan per year. Taking into account Taixing Hutaoli’s business scale, duration of infringement, subjective fault, etc., Taixing Hutaoli was determined to compensate Hezong Company for economic losses of 120,000 yuan.
In the end, the Hutaoli trademark dispute case ended here, and Taixing Hutaoli, who was at fault first, was also punished accordingly. From this case, we can still understand that the law protects registered trademarks. The relevant categories of Hutaoli’s approved trademarks belong to Hezong Company, so the company ultimately won the case.