The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board did not err when it found that the WU DANG TAI CHI GREEN TEA mark was confusingly similar to the registered mark TAI CHI, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Board’s findings as to the DuPont factors were supported by substantial evidence, in the court’s view. In addition, the Board did not err in excluding evidence that the applicant sought to introduce in a reply brief (Cai v. Diamond Hong, Inc., August 27, 2018, Wallach, E.).

Case date: 27 August 2018
Case number: No. 2018-1688
Court: United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.


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One comment

  1. This case exposed a loophole in the trademark laws of the United States.

    How could TTAB and CAFC, completely ignorant of the word originated in foreign languages and the foreign cultural symbol in the marks come to make a judgment about the Marks?

    Legal professionals know the loophole, so they can deceive TTAB and CAFC by providing the false definition of the word in foreign language and false statement about the meaning of the foreign cultural symbol. TTAB AND CAFC just accept whatever the legal professionals fed them.

    This ruling is absurd to anyone who knows Chinese language and culture.

    Both TTAB and CAFC had abused their discretion without knowing it for they are literally blind to the true meaning of Tai Chi and Tai Chi symbol in the marks.

    This case may be brought to the Supreme Court.

    Only the Supreme Court can fix the loophole in the trademark laws of the United States. Whenever TTAB and CAFC face marks containing foreign words or words originated in foreign languages and foreign cultural symbols, opinions of experts on that language and culture should be sought, otherwise, TTAB and CAFC will be easily fooled by one who knows the loophole and come up with nonsense decisions, known to anyone knowing the language and culture but unknown to themselves.

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