Deere & Company is a registrant of a colour combination mark in China in respect of tractors, harvesting machines and related goods.
Deere sued JOTEC International Heavy Industry (Qingdao) Co Ltd and JOTEC International Heavy Industry (Beijing) Co Ltd for infringing Deere’s right to the colour combination mark.
The court ordered the two defendants to stop infringement, and pay RMB450,000 ($74,000) for Deere’s damages and other reasonable fees. This is the first court ruling on infringement on an exclusive right to use a registered colour combination mark since it was included in the scope of protection by the current Trademark Law in China.
Deere founded its subsidiary company in China in 1997, and since then has produced tractors and harvesting machines which all use the colour combination of “green body, yellow wheel”. China’s Trademark Office granted approval of Deere’s registration of its colour combination mark (upper portion in green, lower portion in yellow) in international classes 7 and 12 in respect of the goods “tractors, harvesting machines, lawnmowers, agriculture machines, etc” on March 21, 2009.
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china, trademarks, colour combinations
