The plaintiff Yin Changzhong (殷长忠) had squatted on the client’s AROMA SENSE trademark in Class 11, subclass 1110 (water purification equipment and machines) and sued the client before the Shenyang Intermediate People’s Court, alleging that shower heads, filter cartridges and other products sold via the client’s AROMA SENSE flagship stores on Taobao and JD.com infringed his exclusive trademark rights. He sought RMB 1.5 million in damages.
Upon engagement, Kangrui promptly reviewed the client’s rights basis and investigated the plaintiff’s background. Around the same time, the client received another lawsuit over the same products—this one a patent infringement case filed by Jin Guangchun (金光春). Drawing on years of experience, the Kangrui team quickly perceived a connection between the two matters and began with a deep dive into the counterparties’ trademarks.
The investigation showed that Jin Guangchun had not only squatted on the client’s mark, but had also hoarded a large number of “Paris Baguette” (巴黎贝甜)–related marks. The team further discovered a trademark transfer between Jin Guangchun and the plaintiff Yin Changzhong concerning the mark “芭黎焙甜”, indicating that Jin had previously assigned that mark to Yin. From these facts, the team inferred a pattern of conduct—Yin Changzhong was acting as a “front” for Jin Guangchun, with Jin as the real decision-maker.
Kangrui then focused additional research on Jin Guangchun, locating, among others, a second-instance (appellate) judgment of the Beijing High People’s Court in Jin Guangchun v. [counterparty] in which the court expressly held that Jin’s conduct constituted abuse of rights and malicious litigation. The team also collected other precedents on malicious litigation and abuse of rights and submitted them to the court as supporting authorities.
At the same time, to substantiate the client’s prior use, Kangrui worked closely with the client’s distributors, guiding them in gathering and organizing use evidence. The team also conducted a meticulous review of the plaintiff’s submissions, identifying and exposing numerous instances of falsified evidence during trial.
Kangrui secured a complete victory for the client. The court dismissed all of the plaintiff’s claims, expressly recognizing the client’s reputation in China and finding that the conduct of Jin Guangchun and Yin Changzhong amounted to abuse of rights and malicious litigation.
Immediately after receiving the favorable judgment, Kangrui proposed a proactive enforcement plan, recommending that the client bring trademark infringement and unfair competition actions against Jin Guangchun and Yin Changzhong for their malicious assertion of rights, in order to recover the client’s losses.