We recently wrote about fashion company, Chanel, and their loss in a trademark battle with Chinese technology giant, Huawei Technologies, over the similarity of their logos featuring the iconic linking C’s. Now among the forefront against Huawei Technologies is America’s very own Under Armour. When Huawei Technologies initially applied for trademark protection, a portion of their application included registration for smart watches, which was denied by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”) for being too similar to Under Armour’s goods and therefore would cause consumer confusion.
Huawei attempted to have Beijing Intellectual Property Court overturn the CNIPA’s rejection but they upheld their decision. That did not stop Huawei from appealing to Beijing Higher People’s Court. In line with the Chanel decision, the Higher Court held that since Huawei is predominantly engaged in the business of communication and Under Armour in the sports industry, that the core business offerings differ, and therefore, the two marks do not constitute similar marks. They remanded the case back to CNIPA.