Tencent trial begins over QQ name

A trademark lawsuit brought by Tencent Holdings Ltd concerning automaker Chery went to trial Tuesday at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court.

Tencent, a leading Chinese Internet firm, has filed a lawsuit against the Trademark Appeal Board (TAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) to fight for the right to use its QQ trademark in the auto industry.

In 2005, the Internet firm applied to the SAIC to use the QQ trademark in the auto industry and was granted the right in 2008.

However, leading domestic automaker Chery filed a complaint against the registration, saying that Chery's QQ economy car was already a famous trademark in the auto sector by 2008 and asking the TAB to withdraw the registration.

The board therefore later decided to withdraw the registration. Tencent was not happy with the result and filed a lawsuit with the TAB. The court has not yet made a ruling.

"The two sides belong to two different sectors, and the use of QQ in the automobile industry did not cause confusion to consumers, so it is reasonable for the TAB to withdraw Tencent's registration," Pang Shaoqun, an intellectual property lawyer at Shanghai Liguangli Law Firm, told the Global Times Tuesday.

But Liu Jiahui, a lawyer at Beijing Derun Law Firm, told the Global Times that it is not reasonable for Chery to use QQ as a car name, as QQ was already a well-known trademark in China at that time.

Tencent QQ is an instant messenger launched and registered by Tencent in 1999. So far it has over 700 million users.

Chery used the QQ name on an economy car launched in 2003, and applied to the SAIC for the registration of the trademark in the same year.

Neither of the firms was available for comment Tuesday.