Sichuan High Court Hearing “Good Doctor” Trademark Infringement Case

The Third Civil Division of Sichuan Higher People's Court held a public hearing on the case of trademark infringement dispute  between Sichuan Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. and Ping An Health Internet Co., Ltd.

The plaintiff of the first instance, Sichuan Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Gooddoctor company), complained that Gooddoctor company acquired its trademark through derivative acquisition in October 2004 and has been using it ever since. The trademark involved and Gooddoctor company have a high reputation in the industry. Ping An Health Internet Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ping An company) has labeled “Ping An Good Doctor” on its web page and download interface of mobile app without permission, and used “Ping An Good Doctor” and “Good Doctor” on the operational interface of its app. Its conduct constitutes an infringement on the trademark rights involved.

At the same time, Ping An company also uses “Ping An Good Doctor” and “Good Doctor” as enterprise abbreviations in its app and Internet business services platform and “Ping An Good Doctor” as abbreviation of its stock, which constitutes an unfair competitive act of unauthorized use of the company name and unique commodity name of the Gooddoctor company. Therefore, Gooddoctor company requested the court to determine its No. 190843 registered trademark “Good Doctor” as a well-known trademark, and order Ping An company to immediately stop infringing on the trademark rights involved and unfair competition in the unauthorized use of the company’s name; Ping An company should compensate Gooddoctor company for its economic losses and reasonable expenses of 90 million Yuan; Ping An company should publish statements on its official website and China Consumer Journal to eliminate the negative impact.

The court of first instance ordered Ping An company to stop the infringement, apologize and compensate Gooddoctor company for 3 million Yuan. After the ruling, both Gooddoctor company and Ping An company refused to accept the decision and appealed to Sichuan Higher People’s Court.

It’s learned that the focus of the second instance of this case mainly includes: whether Ping An company has committed infringement and unfair competition against the trademark rights of Gooddoctor company; if Ping An company constitutes infringement, whether the compensation amount of 3 million Yuan decided in the first instance is appropriate; if it constitutes infringement, whether Ping An company should bear the civil obligation to eliminate the negative impact.

The verdict will be announced at a date yet to be decided.

August 29, 2019

Source: China Intellectual Property Right Net

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