Northern Trust Group(hereafter as to NTG) intended to register its enterprise name as a trademark on service like computer programming and was rejected by both Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China(SAIC) and Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under SAIC. The NTG filed administrative lawsuits to Beijing IP Court. Recently, the Beijing Higher People's Court maintained the verdict of first instance by revoking the ruling of TRAB.

In the view of Beijing IP court, the certification of authority submitted by Beijing branch of North Trust Group (hereafter as to Beijing Branch) showed that it authorized NTG to useand register the trademark and "Northern Trust Bank" in China and became the owner of the trademark. NTG was the parent company of North Trust Bank and has no conflicts of rights and interests with Beijing Branch. Since North Trust Bank hadan virtual association with Beijing Branch, there was no actual difference between its enterprise name "North Trust Bank" and North Trust Bank. So, the first instance court revoked the ruling of TRAB and required it to review the decision.

The disgruntled TRAB appealed the first- instance verdict to Beijing Higher People's Court. It argued that the trademark was plainly a word mark and totally different with NTG which easily caused confusion among consumers on its origin of service. However, the second- instance court did not uphold assertion of the TRAB and sustained the original judgment.

(by Mao Liguo)

(Source: China IP News)