A school’s trademark or trade name is important intangible assets. Any infringement of the school’s trademark or trade name by someone in bad faith would not only be detrimental to the economic interests and reputation of the school, but also cause serious confusion among students, and parents, which would be detrimental to the interests of the public in general as well.

In 2005, Guangzhou Hero School (“Guangzhou Hero”) found that Shanghai Hero Education Technology Training School (“Shanghai Hero”) infringed on their trademark right by hanging a name board with highlighted word “Heroes Education” outside its buildings without Guangzhou Hero’s permission, and that Shanghai Hero used the words “Hero” and “Hero Education” as its service marks in advertisements, posters, bulletins, paper advertising materials as well as in its website. In order to defend the legal rights and interests of its trademark, Guangzhou Hero entrusted Unitalen Attorneys at Law to file a lawsuit, in June 2005, against Shanghai Hero on the ground of trademark infringement and unfair competition before Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court.

With the efforts of Unitalen through half a year, Guangzhou Hero happily received a notice from the court when the New Year was approaching. In a judgment of the first instance, the court ordered Shanghai Hero to immediately cease its conduct of trademark infringement, to clear the influence brought by its trademark infringement by advertising a notice in Xinmin Evening News within 30 days from the effective date of the judgment, and to pay RMB50,000 to Guangzhou Hero as compensation of the plaintiff’s economic loss within 10 days from the effective date of the judgment.