Shanghai Translation Publishing House published a book titled "The Traveler" by Professor Hideki Yukawa, the first Japanese Nobel Prize winner and a renowned physicist, at the end of 2022.

The book and its author are featured on Dangdang.com and Jingdong.com.

Dangdang.com about Hidetoki Yukawa, the first Japanese Nobel Laureate and renowned physicist

There is no doubt that Professor Hideki Yukawa's achievements in the field of physics are world-renowned and still have influence today.

But recently, some media and self-publishers reported that a company in Shenzhen that makes toilet seat products is actually called "Hideki Yukawa".

Shenzhen Yukawa Hidetree Technology Development Co.

From the business scope of the enterprise information disclosure system, it seems that this enterprise is related to "physics". But in fact, the main product of this enterprise is intelligent toilet cover.

Hidetree Yukawa sells "Hidetree Yukawa" smart toilet seat on Jingdong.com

The company may have misappropriated the name of Professor Hideki Yukawa.

As a trademark applicant, we checked the trademark application/registered trademark system at the Trademark Office and found that YUKAWA Hidetree had registered the trademark "YUKAWA Hidetree" in Class 11 as early as 2015 and continued to register in Class 10, 11 and 12 from 2015 to 2021. "YUKAWA Hidetoki" (hereinafter referred to as the "YUKAWA Hidetoki" series of trademarks).

In addition to the "YUKAWA HIDEOKI" series, YUKAWA HIDEOKI has also registered "DAVID GIOVANOI", "LEON SCOTT", "DAVID GIOVANOI", and "DAVID GIOVANOI". "DAVID GIOVANONI" and other trademarks.

Note: By Baidu search, LEON SCOTT shows the name of the main character of "Resident Evil"; GIOVANONI of DAVID GIOVANONI shows the foreign name of Giovanni (GIOVANNI ) jewelry.

Hidetree Yukawa has registered not only the trademark "Hidetree Yukawa" series, but also "David Giovannoni", "LEON SCOTT", "DAVID GIOVANONI" and other trademarks. "DAVID GIOVANONI" and other trademarks.

The above facts are summarized in one sentence.

There is a company in Shenzhen that makes smart toilet seat that calls itself "YUKAWA Hideki" and has registered the trademark of "YUKAWA Hideki" series.

The above facts have been commented by some self-publishers as follows.

According to the Enterprise Information Disclosure System, YUKAWA Hideki is a domestic enterprise wholly owned by a natural person. At least according to the public enterprise information, the investor "Sun Qiheng" and the legal representative "Mei Yan" of YUKAWA Hideki are both Chinese and not related to Japanese people or Japanese companies.

In the absence of any connection or authorization between YUKAWA Hideki and Japanese people or Japanese companies, is it legal for YUKAWA Hideki to register the trademark "YUKAWA Hideki" series, regardless of whether YUKAWA Hideki is "bold" or not?

What does the law say about "Hideki Yukawa"?

Suspected of violating the principle of honesty and credit

China's "Trademark Law" Article 7, paragraph 1 provides that.

The application for registration and use of a trademark shall be in accordance with the principle of honesty and credit.

The Trademark Office once rejected the registered trademarks of "Wang Feng", "Wang Sicong" and "Eason Chan" on the grounds of "violation of the principle of honesty and credit". The Trademark Office once rejected the registered trademarks of "Wang Feng", "Wang Sicong" and "Chen Yixun" on the ground of "violation of the principle of honesty and credit".

The act of registering the name of a famous person violates the principle of honesty and credit

Excluding the political factor of "Sino-Japanese relations", Chen argued that Professor Hideki Yukawa, as a world-renowned physicist and Japan's first Nobel Prize winner, should be able to argue that "Hideki Yukawa" is the name of a famous person.

The registration of "YUKAWA Hidetoki" by YUKAWA Hidetoki is suspected of violating the principle of honesty and credit bound by the trademark law.

Suspected of disturbing the normal order of trademark registration and creating adverse social influence

China's "Trademark Law" Article 10 provides that.

The following marks shall not be used as trademarks: ...... (H) harmful to socialist moral ethics or have other adverse effects.

Since 2018, the Trademark Office has divided the types of trademark snatching and hoarding behavior, and effectively curbed the "malicious registration behavior of applying for a large number of well-known character names, enterprise font names, and e-commerce names, which obviously damage others' prior rights and disrupt the order of trademark registration" in the examination stage.

On October 31, 2018, the Trademark Office notified that it rejected 16,000 irregular applications at one time, including applications for registration of trademarks with malicious seizure of prior rights such as name rights.

Trademark Office rejects application for registration of trademark with improper intent to hoard trade marks in bad faith

Hidetree Yukawa, whose main product is a toilet seat, registered a series of trademarks for "Hidetree Yukawa" and even "David Giovannoni", "LEON SCOTT" and "DAVID GIOVANONI". However, the company registered a series of "YUKAWA Hideki" trademarks, even "DAVID GIOVANONI", "LEON SCOTT", "DAVID GIOVANONI" and other trademarks, which are suspected of constituting illegal hoarding of commercial marks with improper intentions, disrupting the normal order of trademark registration and generating adverse social effects.

Suspected to constitute damage to the prior rights of others

Article 32 of the Trademark Law of China stipulates that

Application for trademark registration shall not damage the existing prior rights of others, nor shall it pre-register by improper means a trademark that has been used by others and has a certain influence.

In the process of examination of the registered trademark application, it is necessary to examine whether the applied for registered trademark damages the existing prior rights of others. In this case, the main issue is the name right of Professor Hideki Yukawa.

Although Hidetoki Yukawa is a Japanese name, according to Article 1012 of the Civil Code of China, it is stipulated that

A natural person has the right to a name and has the right to decide, use, change or permit others to use his or her name in accordance with the law, but not contrary to public order and morals.

Therefore, our law protects the name right of natural persons. Although Professor Hideki Yukawa died in 1981, more than 40 years ago, our law stipulates that the protection of the right to a name is applied to names with social popularity by referring to the Civil Code.

Professor Hideki Yukawa talking with Albert Einstein, taken in 1953

Article 1,012 of our Civil Code stipulates that

If a pen name, a stage name, a screen name, a transliteration, a font name, a name and a shortened form of a name, etc., which have a certain degree of social popularity and are used by others in such a way as to cause confusion among the public, the relevant provisions on the protection of the right to a name and the right to a name shall apply by reference.

When it comes to the question of whether the trademark series "Hideki Yukawa" has damaged the name rights of Professor Hideki Yukawa, the social popularity of Professor Hideki Yukawa should be taken into consideration.

The use of the trademark "Hideki Yukawa" in the "toilet seat" products of Hideki Yukawa and the registration of the trademark in various commodities will make the relevant public associate the trademark "Hideki Yukawa" with Professor Hideki Yukawa. The answer is self-evident.

The answer is self-explanatory.

In summary, the registration of the trademark "YUKAWA Hideki" by YUKAWA Hideki is suspected of violating the provisions of Article 7(1), Article 10(8) and Article 32 of the Trademark Law of China, not only infringing on the rights and interests of Professor YUKAWA Hideki's name and violating the principle of honesty and credit, but also disrupting the normal It is also suspected of disturbing the normal order of trademark registration and creating adverse social impact.

The act can hardly be called legal!