Recently, the first-instance judgment of the trademark infringement dispute between Guizhou Moutai Liquor Co., Ltd. and Guizhou Shuogui Liquor Co., Ltd., Guizhou Guoshun Liquor Co., Ltd., and Longgang City Shengyi E-commerce Co., Ltd. was made public.

The judgment showed that the plaintiff Moutai Company claimed that the defendant Shengyi Company, without permission, sold a large number of products infringing its trademark rights and distinctive packaging and decoration, “Guizhou Moutai Town”, in its online store. The product’s wine box and bottle appearance packaging and decoration are very similar to the main features of “Guizhou Moutai Liquor” packaging, using graphics, English, pinyin, color combinations and distributions that are very similar to the plaintiff’s registered trademarks. The defendants Shuogui Company and Guoshun Company are the producers of the infringing products involved in the case.

The court held that the infringing mark and the plaintiff’s trademark in question were basically the same in color matching, constituent elements, icon arrangement, and only some graphics and text were different, constituting similarity. The relevant actions of the three defendants all infringed the plaintiff’s exclusive right to use the registered trademark in question. The infringing product “Guizhou Moutai Town” liquor and the plaintiff’s “Guizhou Moutai Liquor” product packaging, decoration, color matching, icon arrangement, text layout, as well as distinctive elements such as red ribbons and wheat ears are roughly the same, which can easily confuse and mislead the public, constituting unfair competition. In the end, the court ruled that the defendant Guoshun Company should compensate Moutai Company for economic losses of 450,000 yuan, and Shuogui Company should bear joint liability within 200,000 yuan; the two companies should stop producing and selling infringing products and publish statements to eliminate the impact; the defendant Shengyi Company should compensate Moutai Company for economic losses of 20,000 yuan.