Ching Yue Tarng Suffered Setback in Trademark Lawsuit

The well-known Chinese herbs store, 慶餘堂參藥號有限公司 (Ching Yue Tarng Chinese Herbs & Ginseng Co., Ltd.; hereinafter “Ching Yue Tarng”) acted upon Article 24 of the Taiwan Fair Trade Act to initiate an action with the court to assert against慶餘堂醫療器材股份有限公司 (Formosan Biotech Co., Ltd; hereinafter “Formosan”) for Formosan’s infringement upon the right to its name and also to seek prohibition against Formosan’s use of the three Chinese characters “慶餘堂” as part of company name.  After the lawsuit had been brought to the Taiwan High Court and decided in favor of Formosan by a judgment, Ching Yue Tarng appealed this case to the Taiwan Supreme Court, but the appeal was dismissed. 

Established in Shanghai since 1913, Ching Yue Tarng successfully sought Taipei City Government’s approval to incorporate Ching Yue Tarng Chinese Herbs & Ginseng Co., Ltd. under the Chinese company name “慶餘堂參藥號有限公司” in 1953 to be engaged in the trade of Chinese herbs wholesaling and retailing, cosmetics wholesaling and retailing, and international trading, etc.   Formosan was established in March 2000 upon approval by Taipei City Government in business of hospital management consulting, nutrition counseling, and medical devices wholesaling, etc. 

According to the High Court judgment, the Taiwan Company Act provides that the corporate names of two companies will not be considered identical with each other where their names respectively contain any marks or identifying words that may distinguish the two companies’ different categories of business.  In addition, for two companies that are engaged in the same business with their corporate names being identical or similar to each other in a specific part thereof, their corporate names will be considered different as long as the two companies’ different categories of business are designated in the corporate names.  Both Ching Yue Tarng and Formosan use the three Chinese characters “慶餘堂” as a specific part of their Chinese company names and their establishment under their corporate names are both approved by the competent authority.  Both companies designate their respective scope of business in their corporate names; that is, Ching Yue Tarng does the business of Chinese herbs, while Formosan, medical devices.  Such designation clearly differentiates the business scope of Ching Yue Tarng and Formosan, respectively, and therefore, their corporate names will not cause confusion. 

In addition, failing to produce evidence against Formosan for its alleged act of taking a free ride on Ching Yue Tarng’s reputation and competing and conducting business transaction in obviously unfair way, it is groundless for Ching Yue Tarng to seek prohibition against Formosan’s use of the three Chinese characters “慶餘堂” on the ground of Formosan’s violation of the Taiwan Fair Trade Act.  Ching Yue Tarng unsuccessfully appealed against the High Court judgment with the appeal being dismissed by the Supreme Court.  (February 2014)
/CCS