There is a marketplace POIZON launched by the company Shanghai Shizhuang Information Technology (China) more than ten years ago. It became popular in many countries including Russia thanks to its active marketing policy. That marketplace is available to Russian users, whose number is increasingly growing. The marketplace sells fashion goods, shoes, clothes, luxury goods, etc.

As it happens, a Russian company «ПОЙЗОН» (may be transliterated as “POIZON”) filed a trademark application No 2023741345 for "" in Classes 25 and 35.

The patent office refused registration because the claimed designation reproduces the designation used by the marketplace “POIZON”. Besides, the patent office referred to an observation letter provided by the Chinese company whereby it expressed apprehension regarding possible registration of the trademark. The patent office agreed that the claimed designation could be confusing for the consumers and rejected the application.

The applicant ПОЙЗОН appealed against the rejection at the Chamber of Patent Disputes and argued that the rejection had been made without reasons.

According to ПОЙЗОН, the patent office did not explain on which basis the patent office had established associative links that a consumer could have in connection with the disputed designation. Also, the Chinese company did not confirm its sales or provision of its services in Russia.

On the other hand, the company ПОЙЗОН actively uses its trademark POIZON on its site http://www.poizon.ru, which is well familiar on the market. Besides, the company has a trademark registration No 983757 in several Classes for "". The representative of the company did not mention that his trademark had been cancelled in Class 35  for part of the goods in February 2025 — shortly before examination of the present case — by another Russian company that had trademark No 945292 "" registered earlier in Classes 25 and 35. ПОЙЗОН also provided other arguments against the rejection of the application.

Nevertheless, the Chamber of Patent Disputes refused registration of the ПОЙЗОН’s application  in March 2025 because, as it explained, the Internet is highly saturated with the information about the goods of the Chinese company. Conversely, the ПОЙЗОН’s appeal does not confirm that Russian consumers are familiar with the goods or services provided by the Russian company. Thus, the claimed designation may confuse the consumers with regard to the goods in Class 25 and 35.  As additional ground for rejection of the registration the Chamber of Patent Disputes cited trademark No 945292 "" .

After that, the Russian company ПОЙЗОН sued the Chamber of Patent Disputes and asked the IP court to invalidate the decision of the Chamber of Patent Disputes and satisfy the rejected appeal (case No СИП-353/2025).

In order to clarify the issue of confusion the court referred to the Ruling No 10 of the Supreme Court where it was stated that in order to establish infringement it is sufficient to find that there is danger of confusion and not real confusion between the trademark and the disputed designation. Confusion is possible despite certain differences. A disputed designation may be perceived by consumers as an authentic trademark, or, the consumer may believe that the designation is used by the same person or persons associated with the owner of trademark.

The court dedicated much attention to the analysis of possible similarity between the cancelled "" (No 983757) and "" ( No 945292). It referred to the judgment of another court which concluded that the trademark No 945292 is a combined designation, it reads as PZIN and does not have semantic meaning, the letters are in the opposite location and therefore the designations are not similar. The word POIZON does not have semantic meaning either. Semantic criterion may be used only where both designations have a meaning which is not the case here. As a result, the court cancelled the decision of the patent office that invalidated trademark No 983757 and ordered the patent office to restore the registration for retail and wholesale trade including on the Internet.

The conflict between two Russian companies should not, however, hide the glimmering conflict between ПОЙЗОН company and the Chinese company. In a parallel court action (case No СИП-297/2025), ПОЙЗОН sued the patent office and asked the IP court to cancel the decision of the patent office rejecting its application No 2023741345. In response, the Chinese company argued that it had become known on the international market, including in Russia, long before filing the application by the Russian company. Currently, its official web site POIZON accounts for 90 million active monthly users while its value in 2022 was above 1 billion USD. On the other hand the appellant did not provide any documents showing that its goods are in demand among the consumers.

The court confirmed the findings of the patent office and cited Article 1483 of the Civil Code, according to which registration of a trademark is not allowed if it may mislead the consumers with regard to the goods or their manufacturer. This provision provides an absolute ground for refusal of registration. This consideration is based on the perception of the designation by rank-and-file consumers. The court also pointed out that the Internet is highly saturated with information about the goods of the Chinese company. Only for the period from 2017 to 2023 Russian consumers made about 340,000 orders on the platform. The number of Russian users of the platform surpassed one million people.

The court examined many other arguments presented by both sides and finally confirmed decision of the rejection made earlier by the patent office. So the company ПОЙЗОН failed to achieve its goal.

It should be pointed out that the Chinese company submitted an observation letter to the patent office during the examination of the Russian application,  which enabled the patent office to issue a well based decision and which could not be overturned in court.

The Russian company ПОЙЗОН was founded in 2022. It may seem strange that a Russian company chose the name ПОЙЗОН. It has no meaning in Russian. The only supposition that comes to mind is that the company was aware of the Chinese marketplace and planned to use the name to its own advantage. This time it failed but the general recommendation remains: before coming to the Russian market it is highly advisable to register the trademark under which the goods will be sold.