A "Home Inn" hotel in Changsha was found guilty of infringement and will be compensated 50,000 yuan

(This article is reprinted from Xiaoxiang Morning News by Tencent News. All opinions involved in the article have nothing to do with this website)

Citizens who often travel for business may have stayed at Home Inns, but what they didn’t expect is that, The Home Inn you have lived in may be Home Inn.

A hotel called Hunan Home Inn Yuehu Dianzhan Branch looks similar to Home Inn. It also claims to be Home Inn when promoting it, but some netizens commented that the experience of staying here is like a "guest house".

Now, this "cottage like Home" has been taken to court by True Home. The court ruled that the hotel had infringed the copyright and had to pay 50,000 yuan in compensation.

Recently, Harmony Hotel Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Harmony Hotel") found a netizen comment on the Qunar website. The netizen said that the Hunan Home Inn Yuehu Dianzhan Branch (hereinafter referred to as the "Dianzhan Branch") where he stayed was "not Home Inn, it just stole the name and looks more like a guest house."

Due to complaints received one after another, Harmony Hotels sued some non-franchise stores with the name "Homeinn" to the Changsha Intermediate People's Court, including Dianzhan stores. On December 21, according to the first-instance judgment of the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court, Dianzhan Store was ordered to pay compensation of 50,000 yuan for infringing the trademark rights of Hemei Hotel.

Under the name of "Homeinn" but not a franchise store

On the morning of December 21, the case of "Homeinn" suing "Homeinn" was held in the Changsha Intellectual Property Court. The plaintiff is Hemei Hotel, while the defendant is Dianzhan. Harmony Hotel filed a financial claim of up to 150,000 yuan.

"We have not authorized it to become a franchise store." The agent of Hemei Hotel said that the defendant used the name of the plaintiff in its hotel sign "Hunan Home Inn Yuehu Dianzhan Branch" without the plaintiff's authorization. The same word "Home Inn" in the registered trademark was used many times in the hotel's appearance, online promotions and room reservation services. The defendant used the above logo to operate the same services as the plaintiff, which was enough to cause confusion among the public. "Judging from the user comments on Qunar.com, confusion has indeed occurred.

It is reported that the owner of the "Homeinn" trademark is Homeinn Hotel Chain Management (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., and the trademark will be valid until the renewal of registration. March 20, 2023. On June 1, 2005, Homeinns Hotel Chain Management (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. licensed its "Homeinns" registered trademark to Hemei Hotels for use, and agreed that Hemei Hotels can use its own name to deal with any disputes involving the trademark. Prosecution for infringement.

On March 5, 2008, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce recognized the Home Inn trademark as well-known. The agent believed that the "Home Inn" trademark had a certain degree of distinctiveness and market visibility. As a competitor in the same industry, the defendant should have known and should take the initiative to avoid it. "However, the defendant had the intention of 'free riding' on famous brands at the beginning of its business, and prominently used the word 'Home Inn' in hotel decoration and commercial promotions. , seriously damaging the goodwill of the 'Homeinn' brand."

Spending money to join another "Homeinn" for learning experience

The reporter's search found that currently on the "Qunar" website, click The hotel has been renamed Dianzhan Apartment Hotel. In the photos of the hotel, the word "Home Inn" has also been removed and it is shown as the agent of Hunan Dianzhan Hotel Yuehu Dianzhan.

People claimed that the word "Home Inn" was used in the sign because the Dianzhan store was authorized. However, the authorization came from Hunan Home Inn Hotel Management Co., Ltd. "The defendant did not infringe the plaintiff's trademark rights precisely because it respected and paid attention to it. For the protection of intellectual property rights, the defendant's hotel signed a franchise contract with Hunan Homeinn Hotel Management Co., Ltd., paid the franchise fee, and only used the Hunan Homeinn hotel brand after obtaining authorization. "The agent said that the defendant's hotel was mainly an apartment hotel with hotel rooms scattered in residential buildings. The number of guest rooms was only 35. The room price was about 130 yuan. It was small in scale. After obtaining the authorization, it did not highlight the publicity or display of Hunan. The authorized brand of Home Inn has a low chance of acquiring customers due to the Hunan Home Inn brand.

He said that the main reason for joining was to learn from Hunan Homeinn’s hotel business model and management experience. At the same time, the defendant only learned that Hunan Home Inn’s brand might be suspected of infringement after receiving the subpoena. The defendant hotel immediately stopped using the above-mentioned brand. Subjectively, there was no intention to infringe the trademark ownership. Hunan Home Inn was found to be an infringement, and the defendant hotel was also a victim of the dispute involved.

The reporter combed through and found that Hunan Homeinn, as mentioned by the agent, had been sued for alleged infringement as early as 2015. In 2016, the second instance of the Hunan High Court ruled that Hunan Homeinns should stop trademark infringement, change the company name, issue a statement in the media and compensate Hemei Hotel for 600,000 yuan. The Dianzhen store obtained the Hunan Homeinn franchise authorization in 2014, but after 2016, the Dianzhen store still used the Hunan “Homeinn” trademark for promotion.

The court held that the defendant used the words "Home Inn" on the hotel's exterior signs and interior furnishings without the plaintiff's permission, and both of them belonged to the hotel service industry, which was enough to cause confusion and constitute an infringement of the plaintiff's trademark rights. Without being able to ascertain the plaintiff's losses and the defendant's profits, the court comprehensively determined that the plaintiff's economic losses and reasonable expenses were 50,000 yuan.

After the judgment, the defendant should immediately stop infringing the plaintiff’s exclusive right to register a trademark and compensate the plaintiff 50,000 yuan within 10 days after the judgment takes effect.

Background

Two years ago, Hunan Home Inn was ordered to change its name

In July 2015, Hemei Hotel filed a lawsuit in Changsha against Hunan Home Inn Co., Ltd. Trademark infringement requires cessation of infringement and compensation for losses. After the Changsha Intermediate People's Court heard the case, the first instance ruled that Hunan Homeinns should stop the infringement, change the company name, issue a statement in the media and compensate Hemei Hotel for 600,000 yuan. Hunan Home Inn was dissatisfied and appealed. In August 2016, the Hunan Provincial Higher People's Court rejected the appeal at the second instance and upheld the original verdict.