No Confusion Constituted, Want Want (“旺旺”) Lost Suit Against Wang Lao (the transliteration of “旺老” ) Brand.

Alleging that the Chinese character “旺” in the well-known “Wang Lao” brand for tempura was identical with the “Want Want” (“旺旺”) Brand, Tsai Ho-Wang’s Company claimed that the adverse party’s trademark should be revoked.  Notwithstanding, the Intellectual Property Office rejected its claim.  As a result, the Company filed a complaint with the Intellectual Property Court.

The Intellectual Property Court held that as no similarity was constituted between the two trademarks and the Chinese character “旺” in dispute was of low distinction, there should be no likelihood of confusion between the two trademarks.  Holding that despite the character -- “旺” included in both of the trademarks, “旺” was a common Chinese character and few similarity was constituted between the two trademarks, and given this, consumers only needed to pay ordinary attention to the trademarks to identify the source of commodities and were unlikely to misidentify the commodities or be confused, the council eventually ruled that Tsai Ho-Wang’s Company lost the suit. (2010.11)

Source: IP Court docket number: (99) Xing-Shang-Su-Zi No.104 [2010]
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