Case Summary

Since its inception in 2003, Sunac Group （融创） has won numbers of honor such as “TOP 10 North China Real Estate Company in Brand Value” and “Top 10 China Real Estate Company in Brand Value Growth Speed”, and was recognized as one of the Top 5 China real estate companies along with Evergrande and Vanke in 2018. Its “融创”trademark series enjoys high reputation nationwide after years of use and publicity. Jiangxi Rongchuang Company (江西融创), however, registered“融创” as its business name and used it in the real estate development industry, which is considered, by Sunac, as an infringing act against their exclusive registered trademark right and constituting unfair competition. Therewith, Sunac entrusted Unitalen lawyers, Li Kefeng and Yan Chunde, to file a trademark infringement and unfair competition litigation against Jiangxi Rongchuang.

Court Ruling

After partial victory in the first instance and then total failure in the second instance, Unitalen lawyers representing Sunac filed the request for retrial, in which all issues in the trail of second instance were addressed. It led to the final ruling made by the People’s Supreme Court in 2019 that Jiangxi Rongchuang company had put great importance in the use of “融创”logo, which shall be considered as trademark use and thus has constituted the infringement on the trademark exclusive right of Sunac; Meanwhile, Jiangxi Rongchuang company using the registered trademark of Sunac as their business name has constituted unfair competition; the indemnity amount of 1.5 million yuan requested by Sunac shall be fully supported.