Court orders man to stop using funeral service trademarks based on entrepreneur's name

A Chinese court has ruled in favor of an entrepreneur whose name rights and dignity were infringed upon by another man who registered several trademarks that were phonetically identical or similar to the entrepreneur's name or his company's name, including for funeral products.

The case, which was revealed by the Supreme People's Court on Monday, involved two men from the same town, surnamed Xie and Chen. The two had a financial dispute in early years, and Xie is now the chairman of a listed company and has a high level of reputation.

From 2014 to last year, Chen applied for and registered several trademarks that were phonetically identical or similar to Xie's name or his company's name. The registered trademarks included funeral products such as urns, coffins, and burial shrouds.

Despite Xie's attempts to cancel these trademark applications, Chen continued to submit similar applications using Xie's name. Last year, Chen registered a funeral products business under the same name as Xie, which involved the sales of funeral supplies and services.

The court handling the case found that Chen's registration and use of trademarks based on Xie's name were driven by improper motives, with clear subjective malice. It infringed on Xie's name rights and dignity. The court ruled that Chen must cease using the related trademarks, issue an apology, and compensate for Xie's emotional distress.

The Supreme People's Court recently released guidelines for the improvement of the country's legal environment to promote the private sector's development and growth. The guidelines aim to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises and entrepreneurs, and state that those who use the internet, social media platforms, or publications to denigrate, disparage, or vilify private enterprises and entrepreneurs should be severely punished.