On September 26, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court continued the trial of the intellectual property dispute between Minh Khang Trading and Service Company Limited (Minh Khang Company) and Sen Vang Commercial Advertising Joint Stock Company (Sen Vang Company) regarding the dispute over the use of the name "Miss Grand Vietnam". The trial resolved issues that were not clarified in the trial on September 16.
After more than 2 hours, from 11:00 to 13:30, along with reviewing the documents, evidence of the parties, the expert conclusion, the opinion of the Procuracy and the entire proceedings at the trial, the Trial Panel (TPA) rejected the plaintiff's request to file a lawsuit.
In 2017, Minh Khang Company filed an application to register the trademark "Vietnam Peace Bella" at the Department of Intellectual Property and was granted a certificate of registration of the trademark "Vietnam Peace Bella" in 2019. In 2021, the People's Committee of Da Nang City approved Minh Khang Company to organize the "Miss Peace Vietnam" contest . In 2022, the People's Committee of Da Nang City issued an official dispatch approving Minh Khang Company to adjust some of the contest's contents, changing the contest's name to "Miss Peace Vietnam 2022". According to the submission of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang City, Minh Khang Company issued a document to change the contest's name to avoid name disputes, so the official name of the contest organization is "Miss Peace Viet Nam 2022".
Minh Khang Company claims that it has been granted a certificate of trademark registration for the beauty contest with the name "Vietnam Peace Bella" by the Intellectual Property Office . The protected content includes both the text and images accompanying the "Peace Bella" part - translated as "peace beauty" or "peace beauty".
According to Minh Khang Company, for many years, Sen Vang Company has used the name "Miss Grand Vietnam " to organize the beauty contest "Miss Grand Vietnam - Miss Grand Vietnam"; promoting the brand on many media, social networks... without the permission of the trademark owner. The plaintiff claims that this act infringes intellectual property rights.
In court, Sen Vang Company refuted the plaintiff's point of view. This unit said that "Miss Grand International - Miss Grand International" is a beauty contest for peace. Since 2013, the contest has been held in many countries. Sen Vang also announced the licensing contract between Miss Grand International Company (Thailand) and Sen Vang Company, regarding the licensing of Sen Vang Company as the only organization with the right to organize the contest in Vietnam to send contestants to "Miss Grand International" .
The representative of Sen Vang argued that these documents prove that the entire logo, symbol and script of the contest have been registered and legally protected by the State. The use of the sign " Miss Grand Vietnam - Miss Peace Vietnam" with the logo has been copyrighted by the State since 2022 and is "Miss Grand International" Authorized from April 2021.
Regarding Minh Khang Company's request to involve the Intellectual Property Office and the Copyright Office in the proceedings as persons with related rights and obligations, the Panel of Judges affirmed that these two agencies only perform state management functions and do not directly create civil rights and obligations in the dispute between the two companies, so it is not accepted.
Regarding the legal status of the signs and trademarks, the panel determined that Minh Khang Company was granted a certificate of protection for the trademark " Vietnam Peace Bella" since 2019, but has not been granted a separate certificate of protection for the name "Miss Peace Vietnam" - the phrase in dispute with Sen Vang Company.
The panel also rejected the plaintiff's argument that the phrase "Peace Bella" can be translated as “Miss Peace” . When assessing the likelihood of confusion, the court found that the mark “Vietnam Peace Bella” significantly different from “Miss Grand Vietnam - Miss Grand Vietnam” and not enough to cause confusion. Therefore, the court has no basis to accept the plaintiff’s request to initiate the lawsuit.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/toa-an-bac-don-vu-tranh-chap-ten-goi-hoa-hau-hoa-binh-viet-nam-post814935.html
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