After initiating a criminal action against an
individual trademark counterfeiter, STIHL filed a follow-up civil
lawsuit against the trademark counterfeiter and his company, on the
ground of both trademark counterfeiting and trade dress
infringement. By this civil lawsuit, STIHL solved the trade dress
infringement problem and imposed greater pressure upon the
counterfeiter.
Case Brief
In March 2014, ANDREAS STIHL AG & CO. KG (hereinafter
"STIHL") requested the police of Baiyun District,
Guangzhou City to raid a factory named "Guangzhou Rui Song
Machinery Co., Ltd." (hereinafter "RUI SONG"). The
police seized a lot of fake STIHL chain saws as well as some sales
records. The chain saws displayed the STIHL registered trademark
logo and the characteristic orange and grey color combination,
which was the "special trade dress of a reputed product"
as provided by the Anti-unfair Competition Law. HUANG Zhurong
(hereinafter "HUANG") was the sole shareholder of RUI
SONG.
