Not long ago, “bilibili”Station B, known as the "first share of Generation Z", sued the "Bilibili" trademark, which was rejected and did not constitute a well-known trademark. Many people are surprised that "bilibili" does not constitute a well-known trademark, after all, B station also belongs to one of the Internet famous companies.

Recently, the judgment of the second instance of the case was made public, and the second instance changed the judgment that "bilibili" constitutes a well-known trademark! The trademark was also ruled invalid! Reviewing the two trials, the dispute of the case always focused on whether "bilibili" constituted a well-known trademark. Different from previous cases, the recognition of well-known trademarks this time involves the communication characteristics of Internet platforms.

The trademark No. 15362394 "bilibili" was successfully registered by Shanghai Huandian Information Technology Co., Ltd. in 2015. The approved use service category is Class 41, including training, fashion exhibition, provision of online electronic publications (non-download), radio and TV program production, club services (entertainment or education), etc.

- Photo credit: China Trademark Net -

The trademark at issue No. 26264549 "哔哩哔哩BILIBILI" was applied for registration by Jinjiang Jiande Food Co., Ltd. in 2017. The approved use service category is class 30, including natural sweetener, cooking glucose, etc.

In the first trial of the case, the Huandian Company submitted the domestic use, sales, market share, amount, scale or scope of advertising and other materials of the trademark approved use service, in order to prove that the "bilibili" trademark had been known to the relevant public before the trademark registration in the litigation, and constituted a well-known trademark.

However, the court of first instance held that the annual report of China Mobile Internet submitted by Huandian Company, the external advertising and related publicity and promotion of B station, the awards of B station and the reports of well-known media were not enough to prove that B station provided specific services for the approved use of "bilibili" trademark.

In The First Trial: There Is a Difference From The Service Approved By The Trademark

①There is a difference between the amount of video playback of internal bloggers and video content such as games, knowledge, food, dramas and animations submitted by Huandian Company and the service of providing online electronic publications (non-download) approved by "bilibili" trademark.

② There is a difference between the fragmented knowledge sharing in the form of self-made videos by bloggers of Station B and the training, arrangement and organization of training courses for the approved use of "bilibili" trademark.

③ The secondary processing and sharing of the game materials by the bloggers of “bilibili”Station B in the form of self-made videos and the publishing and operation of mobile games by “bilibili”Station B are different from the online game services provided on the computer network approved by the trademark "bilibili".

④ Most of the film and television works of Station B are authorized by other copyright owners for information network dissemination, which is different from the radio and television program production and film production services except advertising films approved by "bilibili" trademark.

⑤The evidence of Station B's naming of CBA Shanghai Men's Basketball Team, hosting or co-organizing entertainment activities (New Year's Eve activities, short-term activities) and participating in animation exhibitions are different from the approved use of "bilibili" trademark to organize fashion exhibition services, club services (entertainment or education) for entertainment.

Therefore, the court of first instance determined that the "bilibili" trademark did not constitute a well-known trademark and rejected the lawsuit request of Huandian Company.

At the second trial stage, the company resubmitted the financial reports of Station B in recent years, the successful marketing cases of "bilibili" and other Internet publicity reports.

How To Identify Well-Known Trademarks Of Internet Platforms?

In the second instance, the Beijing Supreme People's Court took the first paragraph of Article 14 of the Trademark Law as the legal basis, and held that before the trademark application was contested, the company had been using the logo of "bilibili" for seven years. As an online video sharing website, B station had a large number of users, a large number of active users, and a high number of videos played on the station. It has been rated as one of the top 10 most popular apps. Beijing Supreme People's Court holds that the recognition of well-known trademarks on Internet platforms should take into account the characteristics of Internet platforms such as fast communication speed, wide communication range and flexible and rich content. Therefore, "bilibili" trademark, as the commercial logo of B Station, has been widely known by the relevant public after continuous use and extensive publicity and promotion, and constitutes a well-known trademark.

Article 14 A well-known trademark shall, at the request of a party concerned, be determined as a fact to be determined in handling a case involving a trademark. The following factors shall be taken into account in determining a well-known trademark:

(1) the degree of awareness of the trademark by the relevant public;

(2) the duration of the use of the trademark;

(3) the duration, extent and geographical scope of any publicity work for the trademark;

(4) records on the protection of the trademark as a well-known trademark;

(5) Other factors for the trademark to be famous.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 13 (3) of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, if a trademark applied for registration for different or similar goods is a copy, imitation or translation of another well-known trademark already registered in China, misleading the public and causing possible damage to the interests of the registrant of the well-known trademark, it shall not be registered and shall be prohibited from use. The court of second instance held that the disputed trademark should be declared invalid.

Trademark protection has always been an important part of intellectual property protection. If the registered trademark of an enterprise is not enough to constitute a well-known trademark, it is difficult to carry out cross-class trademark protection. It is recommended that enterprises make plans for preparing their trademark portfolio, for example, registering all types of trademarks as early as possible during the trademark application process to protect their intellectual property rights.