It is
reported that the Intellectual Property Tribunal recently agreed with the
domestic private operator against a lawsuit that the Starbucks USA filed to
invalidate the trademark of the private operator. In November of 2017,
Starbucks filed a lawsuit claiming that the trademark registered by the
domestic private business entity in the traditional tea product is similar to
that of the tea trademark. At that time, the Intellectual Property Tribunal
dismissed the two trademarks as not similar, and Starbucks appealed, but
eventually lost it again.
TEAVEN and TEAVANA
Mr. Choi is said to have registered the trademark 'TEAVEN' to export Korean traditional tea. On the other hand, Starbucks tea brand is TEAVANA. Starbucks, who claimed to have copied TEAVANA, said that the questionnaire surveyed about 500 adults across the country, suggesting people could confuse the two brands.
The Patent Tribunal and the Patent Court judged that the two trademarks were not similar.
It would be common to read 'Teaven' and 'Teavana' when pronounced in Korean language, so that the names are different, and the shapes, colors and fonts of the two trademarks are clearly distinguished from each other. In the case of questionnaires, it is said that the questions were able to mislead the respondents regardless of the issue.
How is the final result?
Mr. Choi said he wanted to give up because of the costs of
the lawsuit. From an individual, dealing with the lawsuit against the company must’ve
been very difficult both economically and psychologically.
Starbucks said in an interview with the media that they were
asking its headquarters to confirm the verdicts and kept silent. Meanwhile, the lawsuit is a Patent Court ruling, and if
Starbucks disagrees, the Supreme Court has to take the fight in final. We
should wait and see whether the lawsuits of ‘Teaven’ and ‘Teavana’ will be
finalized or the beginning of a longer fight.
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