Back at the beginning of the year, I wrote about Xiaomi's submission Xiaomi CEO handmade signature to be trademarked worldwide. Since then, this application has been vetoed by the State Intellectual Property Office on the grounds that it resembles the mark of an existing trademarked brand.
The brand in question is JEX, which is already a registered trademark in China and their logo above is also protected. In comparison Xiaomi CEO signature is as similar as two Chinese... here:
It's okay to read it as "jex", but the appearance is slightly different. But the company didn't care much about that, so they challenged the application filed by Xiaomi. Xiaomi then filed an appeal to have the patent lawsuit quashed. They did not win and the court ordered the cancellation of their trademark registration.
Xiaomi Company refused to accept the original judgment and filed an appeal with the Beijing Supreme People's Court, seeking a new determination of whether the mark at issue interferes with the earlier rights of the disputed mark. The main reason is that the contested mark Xiaomi CEO, the handwritten signature of Xiaomi's legal representative, which is an abstract signature of Chinese characters that does not cause confusion and misunderstanding among the public concerned.
The disputed mark was artistically reproduced in its entirety, although there are some differences from the mark cited, and the appeal court ultimately decided to reject Xiaomi's appeal and upheld the original judgment. Xiaomi CEO your signature is not protected by a trademark!
