The Intellectual Property Division of Qinhuai Court recently concluded a trademark infringement case involving geographical indications. 

On July 28, 1999, the plaintiff Jingdezhen Ceramics Association gained registration of the “Jingdezhen JDZ” trademark under Class 21 (daily porcelain, porcelain artworks, porcelain arts and crafts, porcelain, etc.), which shall remain valid until July 27, 2029. 

In June 2021, the plaintiff Jingdezhen Ceramic Association purchased two ceramic bowls with marks "Produced by Jingdezhen" printed on the bottom of the bowls in the department store operated by the defendant Zhang through notarization and evidence collection. 

The plaintiff believes that the defendant Zhang uses the marks similar to the JDZ trademark on the products without the legal authorization of the plaintiff, which constitutes the act of using similar trademarks on the same goods, and may easily lead to confusion and misunderstanding of consumers, thereby constituting trademark infringement. The plaintiff sued defendant Zhang to the court, demanding immediate cease of infringement and compensation for various losses of 50,000 yuan. 

Qinhuai Court held that, trademark certified as geographical indication usually corresponds to a specific geographical name, the trademark registrant cannot deprive the natural person, legal person or other organization whose goods are produced in the specific geographical scope of the right to properly use the place name contained in the trademark certified as geographical indication. If another person properly uses the place name contained in the registered trademark and the obligee brings a relevant lawsuit to the people's court, the people's court will not support it. 

In this case, the label of the accused infringing goods is marked with not only the name of commodity, but also name and address of the factory, the contact information, the barcode and certificate identification, and the information scanned from the barcode is consistent with the information marked on the label of the accused infringing goods. 

Through the above information, it can be determined that the manufacturer of the accused infringing goods is located in Jingdezhen Ceramic Industrial Park, Jiangxi Province, that is, within the specific geographical scope corresponding to the geographical indications claimed by the plaintiff. 

Zhang sells porcelain bowls produced in Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province, and the bottom of the porcelain bowl does not use other marks that are the same as or similar to the registered trademark of Jingdezhen Ceramic Association except the words "Made in Jingdezhen". Such marks will neither detract the popularity and influence carried by the geographical name in the plaintiff's registered trademark, nor mislead the public. 

Therefore, Zhang's sales behavior does not constitute trademark infringement. Qinhuai Court ruled against all the claims of plaintiff. Both parties accepted the court’s judgment, and the judgment has now come into effect.