On March 7, Lanjing finance and economics learned that Ping An Jinlian investment holding (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Ping An Jinlian”) is the main sponsor of the Financial Investment Development Committee (hereinafter referred to as “financial investment committee”) under the China Council for the promotion of private science and Technology (hereinafter referred to as “China Council for the promotion of science and technology”), due to the use of the word “ping an” in the name of the company, It was sued by Ping An Pratt & Whitney Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Ping An Pratt & Whitney”), and the court filed a case on December 31, 2020.
A few days ago, the judgment of the above case was publicized on China judgment document network. On May 31, 2021, the defendant Ping An Jinlian was sentenced to change the enterprise name. The changed enterprise name shall not contain the word “ping an” and compensate the plaintiff Ping An Pratt & Whitney 100000 yuan.
According to the official website of China Council for the promotion of science and technology, it was a national first-class social organization approved by the then state science and Technology Commission and the Ministry of civil affairs in 1995. The financial investment commission is a branch of China private science and Technology Promotion Association.
According to the official website of the Association for the promotion of democracy, the sponsors of the Commission also include: Kunwu Jiuding Investment Holdings Co.Ltd(600053) ( Kunwu Jiuding Investment Holdings Co.Ltd(600053) . SH), Cybertron investment group, Zhongrong International Trust, Federal Reserve securities, Shaanxi International Trust, Xiamen International Trust, Guorong securities, Guangdong Hongfu China International Venture Capital Management Company, Jilin Shengzhong investment, Beijing Zhaoyin Guojin investment, China Venture Capital Co., Ltd Zhejiang Angel Bay venture capital, Lenovo venture capital group, Zhejiang venture capital, etc.
According to the judgment, Ping An Jinlian was established in March 2010. Its former name was “Beijing Haydn Norda Management Consulting Co., Ltd.” and changed its name to the current company name in April 2015. Its business scope includes project investment; Investment management; Investment consulting, etc. The domain name is stdaily com. And cappse org. cn. The websites of China Science and technology network and China private science and Technology Promotion Association published articles entitled “the financial investment development committee of China private science and technology promotion association was held in Beijing” and “the inaugural meeting of the financial investment committee of China private science and technology promotion association was successfully held in Beijing”, which were published in April 2019.
Both articles contain “As the initiator and undertaker of the Financial Investment Commission, Hou Wen, chairman of Ping An financial union, delivered a speech and introduced the company’s business. He stressed that Ping An financial union took the construction of a financial ecosystem as the main line, adhered to innovation and development, and gradually formed three business funds for investment funds, financial services and factor trading. Its business mainly covers industrial investment, investment funds, financial services, financing guarantee and financing “Asset lease” and other contents.
According to the judgment document, Ping An Pratt & Whitney was established in September 2005. Its business scope includes investment consulting, financial consulting, small and micro enterprises and personal consumer financial lending. After that, with the approval of the Trademark Office, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company Of China Ltd(601318) (hereinafter referred to as “Ping An insurance group”) obtained the exclusive rights of two “ping an” registered trademarks respectively.
Ping An Pratt & Whitney believes that without permission, Ping An Jinlian registered and used the registered trademark and enterprise name “ping an” enjoyed by Ping An Pratt & Whitney as its company’s brand name, causing confusion and misunderstanding among the relevant public, undermining the normal market competition order and constituting unfair competition.
Ping An Jinlian argued that since its name was changed in 2015, it has never actually carried out business activities, nor provided products and services to consumers, and there is no case of cheating and misleading the public.
The court held that in this case, the approval and registration date of the “ping an” trademark was earlier than the name registration date of Ping An Jinlian, and the words of Ping An Jinlian were the same as those of the above trademark. In addition, the above trademark has a certain market popularity, and the service scope of Ping An Jinlian and the above trademark was similar. Therefore, Ping An Jinlian takes “Ping An Jinlian” as the enterprise name, which is easy to confuse and misidentify the source of services provided by the relevant public and constitute unfair competition.
In this regard, the court held that Ping An Jinlian should bear legal liabilities such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact and compensating for losses. As for Ping An Jinlian’s claim that it did not actually operate, because it has publicly participated in the activity in its own name and stated in the activity that its business mainly covers industrial investment, investment fund, financial services, financing guarantee and financial leasing. The court of Ping An does not accept the claim of Ping An.
According to the judgment, Ping An Jinlian should change its name within 30 days from the date of the judgment (May 31, 2021). However, according to the industrial and commercial information, the company did not complete the industrial and commercial change within the specified date and cancelled the company on February 16, 2022.
