Legal Game and Strategy Reconstruction from Passive Beating to Active Defense

In the fast-moving consumer goods industry, brand names and trademarks are the core assets of market competition. However, malicious registrants use methods such as "free riding" and "riding on hot topics" to register well-known brands, popular vocabulary, and even enterprise names as trademarks, leading to the dilemma of protecting the rights of enterprises. According to the data of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, in 2024, more than 100000 trademark applications were rejected due to malicious rush registration, but a large number of enterprises still suffered losses due to delayed layout or improper response. This article analyzes how fast-moving consumer goods companies use legal weapons to reverse the dilemma of malicious registration through three typical cases, and extracts systematic defense strategies.

Case analysis: Three major reversal tactics

Case 1: "My Home Stove Cooking" Trademark Defense War - Evidence Chain Construction and Legal Procedure Linkage

Background: The Guiyang catering brand "My Home Stove Cooking" was registered with a similar trademark by a former employee in an attempt to steal brand value through legal means.

Strategy :

1. Full dimensional coverage of evidence chain : Provide business data, advertising records, and media reports since 2010 to prove that "My Home Stove" was first used and had a significant impact;

2. Linkage of legal procedures : apply to the China National Intellectual Property Administration for the declaration of trademark invalidity, and simultaneously file a civil lawsuit, accusing the squatter of violating Article 32 of the Trademark Law (it is prohibited to squat the influential trademark used by others first);

3. Judicial confirmation of rights : The Beijing Intellectual Property Court upheld the invalid ruling in the second instance, clarifying that the act of registering illegally violates the principle of good faith.

Inspiration: Enterprises need to establish a "usage evidence repository" (such as sales records, promotional materials) and solidify timestamps through blockchain authentication technology to form an immutable evidence chain.

Case 2: "Changgao Dianxin" Malicious Litigation Countermeasures Case - Utilizing Judicial Punishment and Trademark Invalidation Procedure

*ackground: After registering the "Changgao Dianxin" trademark, a company named Monkey filed a high compensation lawsuit against the original brand, Changgao Group, in an attempt to hinder its listing process.

Reversal key :

1. Declaration of trademark invalidation;

2. Judicial countermeasures : The court found that a certain company, Hou, constituted malicious litigation and ordered it to compensate for the cost of rights protection and impose a fine of 100000 yuan, setting a precedent for the dual punishment of "malicious registration+malicious litigation";

3. Ecological Defense : Enterprises simultaneously submit trademark invalidation rulings to e-commerce platforms and remove counterfeit product links in bulk.

Inspiration: Fast moving consumer goods companies should establish a trademark dynamic monitoring system, provide real-time warnings for newly applied trademarks, and initiate opposition procedures in the early stages of registration to avoid high cost consumption in the litigation stage.

Case 3: Cross provincial pursuit case of "A certain Bei driving test" - full chain crackdown on malicious assignees

Background: After a company in Xi'an acquired the "Moubei" trademark from a Shanghai hijacker, it filed a reverse complaint against the original brand owner, a company in Nanjing, for infringement and coerced the acquisition of equity.

Strategic Innovation :

1. Judicial breakthrough : Shaanxi High Court has determined that malicious assignees shall bear unfair competition liability, and has ordered them to stop using the trademark, change the company name, and compensate 200000 yuan, extending legal liability to the trademark circulation process for the first time;

2. Administrative Collaboration : The court transfers clues to the Shanghai market supervision department to promote the investigation of the bulk hoarding of 707 trademarks by the original registrant, achieving a "judicial administrative" full chain crackdown;

3. Consumer Perception Evidence: Using data from 238 million website visits and 200 million software downloads, prove the brand's market influence and undermine the opponent's "registered trademark priority" defense.

Inspiration: Enterprises need to pay attention to the dynamics of trademark circulation, conduct due diligence on the background of assignees, and prevent "secondary malice".

Response strategy: From passive defense to active sniping

1. Defensive Layout: Trademark Matrix and Monitoring System

Full Category+Multi Form Registration : Covering core products (Class 30 food), derivatives (Class 21 packaging), and digital assets (Class 9 APP), registering variant trademarks such as dialects and abbreviations (such as "LAIXIANG" corresponding to "Lai Xiang");

AI monitoring system: Using image recognition and semantic analysis technology, it scans trademark office announcements and e-commerce platforms to provide real-time alerts for similar trademark applications.

2. Legal Toolbox: Program Linkage and Punitive Damages

Trademark invalidation+revocation procedures *: Simultaneously initiate invalidation declaration and "three consecutive years of non use" revocation application for registered trademarks, and use both methods to dissolve the foundation of rights;

Punitive damages claim: In response to malicious registration theft, according to Article 63 of the Trademark Law, we request compensation of 1-5 times, such as a judgment of 3 million yuan in a case in Shanghai.

3. Ecological Collaboration: Industry Alliance and Consumer Co governance

Establish a trademark protection alliance: fast-moving consumer goods companies jointly establish a "blacklist" database for registration and share rights protection resources (such as the "Yangtze River Delta Design Patent Pool" model);

Consumer Reporting Incentive: Launching the "Authentic Verification Reward Program" to encourage users to provide counterfeit clues and reduce the cost of anti-counterfeiting.

Future Trends: Technological Empowerment and Institutional Innovation

Blockchain evidence storage : the brand use evidence is linked in real time to ensure legal effect, for example, the Hangzhou Internet Court has recognized the blockchain evidence;

AI assisted review : the China National Intellectual Property Administration piloted the AI system to automatically identify malicious preemptive registration patterns (such as batch applications and hot words), and the rejection efficiency increased by 40%;

Cross border Joint Defense: Achieving global trademark layout through the Madrid System and Hague Agreement, and responding to the new extortion mode of "domestic registration+overseas threats".

Conclusion

The essence of malicious registration is a collusion between legal loopholes and commercial greed. Fast moving consumer goods enterprises need to break away from the "case by case response" thinking and build a full cycle management system of "prevention monitoring strike repair". Whether it is the construction of the evidence chain for "My Home Stove", the judicial countermeasures for "Changgao Dianxin", or the full chain accountability for "Moubei Driving Test", all confirm a truth: In the intellectual property battlefield, the sharpest weapon is not passive defense, but active swordplay . Only by deeply integrating legal strategies, technological tools, and ecological synergy can trademarks be transformed from "plundered objects" to "cornerstones of moats".