A trademark bureau vice-director became the first ever senior
official to personally defend an administrative lawsuit in
court.
Fan Hanyun, executive vice-director of the Trademark Bureau
under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, was
present at court on Friday after the administration was taken to
the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court. An Inner
Mongolia-based food company claimed Fan's administration violated
its monopoly right over trademark usage.
In the past, when being accused by residents or enterprises,
departments of the central government would appoint an ordinary
staff member and a lawyer to be present at the court hearing, said
Li Xinsheng, vice-president of the Beijing No.1 Intermediate
People's Court.
Lawyers representing the administration were also in court on
Friday.
Fan's appearance, follows an announcement by the State
Administration for Industry and Commerce that senior officials will
respond to prosecution at court for administrative lawsuits.
Administrative lawsuits are lawsuits against government departments
by citizens or enterprises for decisions or actions they have
taken.
No judgment was passed on Friday after the first hearing.
The plaintiff, the Inner Mongolia Jinsui Food Company asked the
court to withdraw a decision by Fan's administration and another
defendant in the case, the State Grain
Administration.
The two administrations issued notices last year saying that
although the Jinsui Company's trademark of Snowflake is protected
by law, the name of "Snowflake Flour" is recognized as a common
kind of flour and the company has no right to forbid other food
companies from using that specific wording.
"To have Snowflake Flour as a common name for a kind of flour
was the common understanding reached by the State Grain
Administration and the National Grain Association," Fan said.
Furthermore, Fan pointed out that it is due to the improper
behavior of the Jinsui Company that the name of "Snowflake Flour"
has become a common monicker for high quality flour in the past
decade.
"The trademark of snowflake was registered by an Anhui-based
company in 1985. But according to statistics provided by the
National Grain Association, many enterprises began to produce and
sell flour called Snowflake Flour in 1994," he said.
Fan emphasized that the original owner of the trademark failed
to take effective measures to protect the monopoly right of the
snowflake trademark.
"The Jinsui Company, who got the trademark from original
Anhui-based owner of the trademark in 2002, should also take the
unfavorable result," Fan said.
But Wang Zhan, the lawyer for the Jinsui Company, said the
number of companies using the name of Snowflake Flour is only a
small proportion of high-quality flour producers.
"It is absolutely a violation of the trademark rights of
Snowflake," he said on Friday.
According to sources with the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's
court, among the 48 departments of the central government within
the ruling area of the court, 63 percent have had to deal with
administrative lawsuits.
Last year, the court dealt with more than 470 trademark and
patent administrative lawsuits. Some 40 percent were
foreign-related cases, said the court's vice-president Li
Xinsheng.
He believed that the presence of senior governmental officials
at court will effectively promote the supervision of court over the
government.
Fan also said Friday that he will be more cautious in performing
administrative duties in the future and is ready to be present at
court as defendant if needed.
(China Daily April 3, 2004)