The case of the unfair competition between the two leading domestic dairy companies, eli and monroe, has been settled。
Recently, the jiangsu provincial high people's court, in its second instance, dismissed the appeals of both parties, upheld the judgement, ordered mono cow to cease its unfair competition immediately and compensated ili for its economic losses and reasonable expenses totalling $5 million。
In august 2020, elli introduced a new “goldard” milk packaging by professional design firms. At the end of 2023, the milk “selected range” introduced by mong cow attracted the attention of ili. Both products are coloured as "milk bottom + ink green elements" with white fonts for green bottom frames in ink on top of the front, the word "pure milk" and the fonts, colours and positions indicated for the net content, and the right-hand illustrations are based on green steppes, combining elements such as cows, pastures and similar styles. After the negotiations were unsuccessful, the company filed a lawsuit with the nanjing city intermediate people's court。
At the hearing, the parties engaged in a heated debate about the prominence, approximation and potential for confusion of the packaging。
The notarized evidence submitted by the company indicates that the two products are often overstretched by merchants and sold at lower prices than “golden” milk. According to third-party survey data, 82. 6 per cent of respondents considered the two boxes to be “similar”, 67. 8 per cent and 74. 7 per cent, respectively, to be “overall visual effects” and “colour mix”, and 83. 9 per cent considered the two to be related. The screenshot of the electrician platform also shows that some consumers mistook the “selection of pastures” as “golden tablet” and that some agents need to specifically label “not gold tablets”。
Mong chou, for its part, argued triple. The first is the green, rectangular packaging, the dairy range, which is a common design element for the dairy industry, and the “selection range” brand has been in operation since 2014, with packaging designs continuing in their own style; the second is the marked difference between the two packagings, the top of the “selection range” having compass map elements, with illustrations using sketch styles and green cow images, the upper right corner with the label “china national geographic” and the following is the official recommended range of china's geography, while the “gold scheme” is packed with leaf caps, water-colour style illustrations and the label “3. 6g quality milk protein”, with the back design being more completely different; and the three elements, such as cows, grasslands, houses, white clouds, are consistent with the general public's perception of the range, and the style and image of the map are more well written and less significant. Mong chou also argued that the sub-branch brands had developed a stable market perception and that even if there were similarities in packaging, they would not lead to confusion among consumers。
The nanjing central court found, after trial, that the “golden seal” milk packaging of the company ely constituted a certain impact of the packaging. The court noted that the packaging of goods was decorative and identifiable in terms of the words, patterns, colours and organization attached to the goods or their packaging for the purpose of identifying and aestheticizing the goods. “golden” milk packaging is made from green ink bottom frames and white font labels, well-regulated illustrations (a combination of green leaves, cows, grasslands, etc.), a coordinated colour system (milk bottom + green ink details), with no evidence of the previous existence of the same or similar packaging designs for commodities, some decorative and visible, and some market visibility and influence。
With regard to the tort finding, the court noted that the overall visual effects of the “selected range” milk and the “gold tablet” milk packaging were similar to those of the “green ink bottom frame” and the white font label, the “pure milk” label, the theme of the illustration and the colour, the side ink green bottom, etc. The two commodities, which contain milk in a greenhouse, are usually stacked and sold together, and the fact that the company did not use the brand name of the “muffled cow” in the prominent position of “selected pasture” milk weakens the brand distinction function and, combined with the market visibility of the “golden” milk and actual consumer misrecognition, is sufficient to conclude that it constitutes undue competition。
In the light of this, the nanjing central court decided to compensate ili for its economic losses and reasonable expenses to halt the violations within 15 days of the effective date of the judgement, while rejecting ili's claim that the newspaper had eliminated the effects. Both elli and monja appealed their sentences to the jiangsu provincial high people's court。
