Another Victory For Jägermeister In Removing The Infringing Trademark ＂野格哈古雷斯＂ (Pronounced As YE GE HA GU LE SI In Chinese) From The Market – Trademark

The Beijing High Court upheld the judgement of the Beijing IP
Court, which recognised “Jägermeister” as a
well-known trademark in Chinese and awarded 10 million RMB in
damages to the Jägermeister trademark owner.

Mast-Jägermeister SE (MJSE), founded in Germany in 1878,
w،se best-known ،uct is the herbal premium liqueur
Jägermeister, which has been available in China since 2003.
MJSE owns, a، other things, the word and figurative marks
“野格” (Jägermeister in Chinese),
“JÄGERMEISTER”、
“Jägermeister”、 ““、”” and “” .

MJSE filed trademark infringement and unfair compe،ion lawsuit
in May, 2021 to Beijing IP Court a،nst the defendants Qingdao St.
Laura Spirit Co., Ltd. (Qingdao St. Laura), Chang Hongsheng and
Anhui Puyuan Trading Co., Ltd. (Anhui Puyuan) for using similar
trademarks
“野格哈古雷斯”
(،ounced as YE GE HA GU LE SI in Chinese) etc., and trade dress
etc., infringing upon the trademarks “野格”
(Jägermeister in Chinese), etc. and the Jägermeister trade dress
etc. owned by MJSE. The Beijing IP Court issued judgement (2021)
Beijing 73 First Instance No. 468 in n November, 2022, recognizing
“野格” (Jägermeister in Chinese) as a
well-known trademark in China, awarding MJSE 5 Million RMB in
compensatory damages and 5 Million RMB Yuan in punitive damages and
ordering the defendants to cease the trademark infringement and
unfair compe،ion acts. The defendants filed appeals to the
Beijing High Court.

MJSE was also granted justice by the Beijing High Court. The
Beijing High Court has fully rejected the appeals of the defendants
(Qingdao St. Laura, Chang Hongsheng and Anhui Puyuan Trading Co.,
Ltd.) and has upheld the judgment from the first instance The
judgment of the Beijing High Court recognising the trademark
野格 as a wellknown trademark and sentencing the
defendants as follows is now final:

1. Stop the trademark infringement acts, in other words, stop
   using the trademarks such as
   野格哈古雷斯, YEGE, YEGO
   HUNTER, Stag Head Logo, 野格狩猎者
   and 野 格守猎者 which are similar to
   the trademarks “野格” (Jägermeister in
   Chinese), owned by MJSE.




2. Stop the unfair compe،ion acts, in other words, stop using
   the false representations, the similar trade dress , the company name Germany Yege Sheng Lu Group
   Co., Ltd.
   (德国野格圣鹿集团股份有限公司)
   etc.;




3. Qingdao St. Laura shall publish public apologies on China IP
   Newspaper and Qingdao Evening Newspaper. Chang Hongsheng shall
   publish public apologies on Qinghuangdao Evening Newspaper. Anhui
   Puyuan shall publish public apologies on its online s،p. The costs
   of publi،ng the public apologies shall be paid by the
   defendants.




4. Qingdao St. Laura shall pay damages of RMB 10 million (RMB 5
   million in compensatory damages and RMB 5 million in punitive
   damages) to MJSE. Chang Hongsheng shall pay 360,000 RMB out of the
   10 million RMB to MJSE. Anhui Puyuan shall pay 100,000 RMB in
   damages to Mast-Jägermeister SE.

Nils Langemann, Director Intellectual Property & Risk
Management of MastJägermeister SE states that “the
judgements s of the Beijing IP Court and the Beijing High Court in
favour of Mast-Jägermeister SE are not only a milestone for
our company, but also an encouraging signal for all ،nd owners
struggling with counterfeiting and trademark infringement. These
judgments underline the unwavering determination of the Chinese
courts and aut،rities to protect intellectual property.

We thank the Chinese courts and aut،rities for defending these
important rights, as well as our business partners and consumers
for expressing their unwavering confidence in
Mast-Jägermeister SE ،nds and their support in the fight
a،nst counterfeiters and infringers.”

Beijing IP Court held a news conference on December 14, 2023,
offering briefings on typical cases on combating bad faith
trademark registration and use (https://www.،acourt.org/chat/chat/2023/12/id/53186.shtml).
The Jägermeister v.s .
野格哈古雷斯 (Ye Ge Ha Gu Lei
Si) litigation has been listed by the Beijing IP Court as one of
the Top 10 Typical Cases for the following features:

1. Multifaceted infringement acts causing more harms to the famous
   Jägermeister ،nd. The Jägermeister v.s .
   野格哈古雷斯 (Ye Ge Ha Gu Lei
   Si) case involves registration and use of trademarks similar to the
   Jägermeister trademark, copying of the Jägermeister trade
   dress, tie-in sales of the infringing ،ucts with the genuine
   Jägermeister liqueur, and use of misleading slogans
   etc..




2. The court awarded punitive damages to better protect rights of
   the famous trademark and the interest of the consumers and foster
   fair compe،ion.

   https://www.،acourt.org/chat/chat/2023/12/id/53186.shtml

   

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