經通國際智慧產權事務所

During the 597th council meeting held on March 10, 2010, the Fair Trade Commission of Executive Yuan (FTC) decided that the advertisement by the company, “True Love Eternity Company” (Company), has been attempting to establish an untruthful connection to others’ reputed marks, namely, “CHANEL” and “No5”, and taking advantage of others’ work and efforts to promote the Company’s products. Therefore, the Company has distorted the fairness of trade and violated Article 24 of the Fair Trade Act. The FTC ordered the Company to stop the unlawful act immediately and pay a total of NTD200,000 fine.

The content and phrases of the advertisements of the Company’s product, “Jumelle a+ The Essence of Camellia” seems to imply an untruthful connection to “Chanel S.A.” (Chanel) founded by Coco Chanel and the marks owned by Chanel. These content and phrases include:

“…until the Japanese authoritative camellia researcher, Dr. Hanima, discovered that the function of Floratheasaponin6, which is a substance commonly found in camellia, was to assist the metabolism on fat. Therefore, Dr. Hanima named Floratheasaponin6 as ‘Camellia No.6’.”

“…Coco Chanel, applying her unique aesthetic, turned the image of a camellia into a timeless fashion design. In 2009, the image of camellia, together with “Camellia No.6”, blossomed all over Japan.”

“…Camellia No.6 is the innate content of a camellia while the fashion gene of a camellia is given birth by Chanel.”

“No.5 + 1 perfect curvature = No.6”

Even though the product “Jumelle a+ The Essence of camellia” has absolutely no relationship to Chanel, the aforementioned content and phrases made inappropriate and untruthful connections not only to Coco Chanel, but also to the trademark “CHANEL” and product “Chanel No.5” owned by Chanel. Therefore, the general consumers are most likely to assume that the Company’s product is related to Chanel’s and the Company must have some type of business relationship with Chanel. Based on the above rationale, the FTC decided that the Company’s advertisement has been attempting to establish an untruthful connection to reputed marks, namely, “CHANEL” and “No5”, and taking advantage of others’ work and efforts to promote the Company’s products. Consequently, the Company has distorted the fairness of trade and violated Article 24 of the Fair Trade Act.

(Source: Fair Trade Commission News Release 2010.03.10)

Organized and translated by Dano Yi

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