In the petition sent to the HCM City People’s Committee, the plaintiff – the UK-based Interband Group – denounced the two Vietnamese companies of illegally using the word “interbrand” of the group as their brands, which must be seen as a behavior of intellectual property infringement.
The British group was established in 1974, and has its headquarters at No 239 Old Marylebone Road, London NW1 5QT, the UK. This is a well known group in the world in the fields of consultancy and brand management. Interbrand Group has 1200 officers who work at 36 offices located in 24 countries in the world.
The most famous publication of Interbrand is The Best Global Brands, which the group publishes in cooperation with Business Week, a famous journal.
Suing for using “Interbrand” illegally
Also according to the plaintiff, “Interbrand” has become popular to the Vietnamese public in the field since 2001, when Interbrand Group made the brand valuation for Asia Pacific Brewery, the foreign partner in the brewery joint venture which makes famous Heineken and Tiger brand brewery products in Vietnam. The group has affirmed that since then, “Interbrand” has established a good reputation in Vietnam through the country-wide advertising and branding projects it implemented with local businesses.
Interbrand Group said that it has recently discovered that Vietnamese enterprises have made the corrupt use of the names, prestige and brand of Interbrand in doing business; thus, infringing the intellectual property of the group.
Interbrand JSC has been using “Interbrand” as its brand in business and as advertisement instrument on mass media, including on Internet. The company has been found as using abbreviation “Interbrand JSC” which has mistaken the Vietnamese company for the famous British “Interbrand”. It has also been using the domain www.interbrand.com; www.interbrandvn.com which must be seen as the infringement of the famous brand “Interbrand”.
Meanwhile, Inter Brand Media Co., Ltd has been found as using the sign of “Interbrand” as a brand in its business and advertisement campaigns, including the ad campaigns on Internet. “Inter Brand Media Co, Ltd” has made people misunderstand as “Interbrand group” of the plaintiff. The fact that Inter Brand Media Co., Ltd uses the domain names www.interbrandvietnam.com; www.interbrandmedia.com; www.interbrandmedia.com.vn and www.interbrandmedia.vn also must be seen as a behavior of intellectual property infringement.
The plaintiff has asked the Vietnamese court to force the offenders to stop using the sign “Interbrand” as their brands or the key parts of their brands in doing business, and stop using the above said domain names.
Famous or infamous?
Truong Vo Tuan, the representative of Inter Brand Media Co., Ltd, argues that the provision of only one service to a company in Vietnam is not enough to make the service provider become familiar to the Vietnamese public.
The defendant believes that the plaintiff is not a famous brand in Vietnam.
Tuan has affirmed that Inter Brand Media Co., Ltd is the name which has been used legally since March 2, 2009. Meanwhile, the British Interbrand Group only got the certificate on brand registration No 146017 on May 6, 2010.
Judge Do Duc Van Hong of the HCM City People’s Committee has sent a dispatch to the National Office of Intellectual Property NOIP, asking to clarify the popularity of “Interbrand”, because this is an important factor in the case.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff, through Vietnamese lawyers, continues its efforts to find out the Vietnamese legal entities which illegally use its famous brand “Interbrand”. Most recently, the representative of Interbrand Group has said the group discovered that a company with the headquarters in Hanoi has also registered and used the domain name www.interbrand.com.vn. The group is reportedly taking necessary measures to settle the case in Hanoi.
Source: SGTT
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