Recently, BestSeller, the operator of well-known clothing brands ONLY and VEROMODA, won the anti-unfair competition lawsuit. The court held that Diqing Company violated the interests of the plaintiff BestSeller Company, determined that the defendant Diqing Company's behavior constituted unfair competition, and ordered it to compensate BestSeller for its economic losses and reasonable expenses, totaling more than 1.08 million yuan. 

In this case, the defendant Diqing Company purchased the clothing of ONLY and VEROMODA from the plaintiff BestSeller Company, plagiarized the clothing style of both brands, and sold it at low prices through Taobao shops, WeChat, and other channels with its own marks.

(Image source: IP Economy)

BestSeller Company sued Diqing Company on the grounds of unfair competition, demanded that Diqing Company compensate for its economic losses and reasonable expenses, totaling more than 2 million yuan. 

After hearing, Yuhang Court held that: novel design or the series of products presenting brand characteristics can gather more attention from consumers, and thus bringing more competitive advantages to the operators, which is the operating advantage realized by large amount of investment. However, the plagiarism behavior does not invest any intellectual labor in the design of product styles, the selection of materials, the treatment and selection of workmanship, etc., but makes profits by the goodwill accumulated by other people's brands and products. Subjectively, this kind of behavior has obvious intention of clinging to other people's brands and product’s goodwill, and grabbing other people's achievements, which objectively disturbs the market competition order and is an improper behavior that violates the principle of good faith and business ethics. To sum up, the court found that the defendant Diqing Company's behavior constituted unfair competition, and made discretion according to the subjective fault degree of the infringement, the performance of the infringement and the reasonable expenses incurred by BestSeller Company for safeguarding rights, and sentenced the defendant Diqing Company to compensate BestSeller Company for economic losses and reasonable expenses, totaling more than 1.08 million yuan.

In this case, the court punished and cracked down on such infringement acts as "free-riding" and "hitchhiking" on the intellectual property rights of famous brands in accordance with the law, effectively safeguarding the rights and interests of the obligee and the vast number of consumers.