In September 2016, Liu Chonghua, Legal Representative and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Chongqing Huashengyuan Food Co., Ltd., filed series lawsuits to Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court against Chongqing New Qinyuan Bakery Co., Ltd. (“New Qinyuan”) and Chongqing Qinyuan Catering Management Co., Ltd. (“Qinyuan Catering”), both being subsidiaries of John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Ltd., for copyright infringement with respect to their cake art works, demanding that New Qinyuan and Qinyuan Catering pay considerable compensation and make a public apology on CCTV and the website https://www.qq.com/.
Appointed as the agent ad litem of New Qinyuan, ZHH helped win the case in the first instance (on March 28, 2017 and June 2, 2017), where Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court dismissed Liu Chonghua's claims and supported our statement of defense. As there were few disputes over the protection of copyrights on decorative cakes as art works involved in current judicial practices, ZHH's intellectual property team conducted an in-depth study of related issues in decorative cake art works, worked closely with New Qinyuan's baking technology experts, and provided an explicit, in-depth and professional analysis of the core technical issues in this case and the mains points concerning the judges, all of which were supported by the court.
This case was about a dispute over the copyright on the appearance design of decorative cakes between two local influential old baking enterprises in Chongqing. ZHH's team won high recognition and positive evaluation from the client based on its solid legal foundation, serious and responsible working attitude, high-quality legal services, and professionalism and competence manifested in its bilingual (Chinese and English) working language.
This project was led by Partner ZHENG Peng and handled by Chief Attorney LU Lu.