"Dragon" and "phoenix" are the design features of the well-known local liquor companies "TaiBai Liquor" and "Xifeng Liquor" in Shaanxi Province. Xifeng Liquor Company requested the Baoji Municipal Intellectual Property Office because one of Taibai Liquor's designs was similar to that of Xifeng Liquor. It was ruled that Taibai Liquor was suspected of infringing on its design patent. Recently, the Intellectual Property Court of the Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, issued an administrative judge in the first instance to revoke the decision on the handling of the patent infringement dispute case made by the defendant Baoji Intellectual Property Office.

The Xi'an Intermediate People's Court concluded that: firstly, the knowledge level and cognitive competence of general consumers of liquor products can effectively distinguish the design differences between the products involved and the patented solutions; secondly, the general consumers pay more attention to the popularity of liquor when buying liquor. Through the long-term production, management, publicity and sales of Taibai Liquor and Xifeng liquor, they have respectively established high popularity, and the general consumers will not confuse the two brand products; finally, Xifeng liquor is the design element of the Phoenix shape. And the dragon shape of Taibai liquor as a design element, in the limited design space, respectively carry the relative and different beautiful meanings in traditional Chinese culture. Together with their continuous brand promotion over the years, they have become the criterion for consumers to distinguish between the two. With the principle of overall observation and comprehensive judgment, the two will not constitute similarities or the same.

In the end, the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court concluded that the products involved in Taibai Liquor Company's case did not fall into the scope of protection of Xifeng Liquor Company's design patent rights, and made the above-mentioned administrative judgment. Xi'an Intermediate People's Court judged that Taibai Liquor did not infringe on the design patent of Xifeng.