Recently, a store named ‘Jinri (Today’s) Youtiao (deep-fried twisted dough sticks)’ caused the public’s attention. It is because the decoration and Logo of this store are extremely similar to ‘Toutiao Today’, which is the search engine company owned by Byte-Dance. Toutiao sued the company which operate this store to the court.

Tianyancha APP shows that the current trial procedure of the case is ‘examination of preservation of non-litigious acts’. The executive court is Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court, and the cause of action is trademark ownership and infringement disputes. The number of the case is (2020) Guangdong No.73 Act Preservation No.1, The defendant is Henan Jinri Youtiao Food and Beverage Management Co., Ltd, Zhengzhou province Jinshui District Jinri Youtiao Breakfast Store, and Henan Barbecuer Co., Ltd.

The thing that worth attention is one of the defendants, which is Henan Jinri Youtiao Catering Co., Ltd., has registered several highly similar trademarks. These registered trademarks include Jinri Youtiao, Jinri Doujiang (Soybean Milk), Jinri Douhua (Tofu pudding), Jinri Miantiao (Noodle), Bing (Cake) DuoDuo, KuaiShou ZhuaBing (Chinese scallion shredded pancake) etc. The international classification includes convenience food, catering and accommodation and so on. The status of the trademarks is mainly pending for  substantive examination.