ZF Friedrichshafen AG Won Second Instance of Trademark Infringement and Unfair Competition Lawsuit in China
In November 2025, the Zhejiang Provincial Higher People's Court made a final judgment on the dispute over trademark infringement and unfair competition filed by ZF Friedrichshafen AG and ZF Sales and Service (China) Co., Ltd. ("ZF") against Hangzhou Lunfude Chassis Technology Co., Ltd. ("Hangzhou Lunfude") and other defendants. The court dismissed the appeal in accordance with the law and upheld the first-instance judgment rendered by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court.
After trial, the court found that Hangzhou Lunfude's use of the alleged infringing marks such as "
", “
", “LMO", and "LEMFÖRDER" on its official website, e-commerce stores, commodities and packaging, as well as the sale of commodities bearing such infringing marks and the use of "lemforder" as a domain name, infringed ZF's trademark rights and the rights and interests of influential commercial signs. In addition, Hangzhou Lunfude's acts of using “伦福德 (lun fu de)" (the Chinese counterpart of "LEMFÖRDER"), "LEMFORDER", and "LEMFÖRDER" as its enterprise name, applying for the registration of trademarks that copy or imitate ZF's marks, and initiating trademark infringement complaints and civil lawsuits against commodities originating from ZF by using the registered trademarks constitute unfair competition. Weibiao (Hubei) Brand Management Co., Ltd., as a professional trademark agency, still assisted Hangzhou Lunfude in applying for the registration of relevant trademarks knowing that such trademark registration acts violated the provisions of the Trademark Law, thus constituting joint infringement. Leimo Auto Parts (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. sold commodities bearing the alleged infringing marks, constituting trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Pursuant to the effective judgment, each defendant shall immediately cease all infringing acts, including ceasing the use of infringing trademarks, withdrawing or canceling relevant trademarks, ceasing the use of enterprise names containing words such as “伦福德 (lun fu de)", publishing a statement in the Intellectual Property News to eliminate the impact, and compensating ZF for economic losses totaling RMB 3.05 million.
Controversial Focuses：
1. Determination of Trademark Infringement
Hangzhou Lunfude and Mr. Fang infringed ZF's exclusive right to use the No. 159226 “
” and the No. G876191 "LEMFÖRDER" trademarks.
Without authorization, Hangzhou Lunfude used the marks such as "
,
,
,
", "LEMFÖRDER", and "LEMFORDER" on its website, WeChat official account, Douyin account, Taobao store, the automotive spare parts commodities sold and displayed as well as their packaging and labels, and the pictures and packaging of lubricating oil, catalytic cleaning agents, and fuel additives displayed. Leimo Company, without authorization, used the aforementioned marks on the storefront, interior of the store, the commodities sold and displayed as well as their packaging and labels, and the promotional brochures and business cards provided. The sale of commodities bearing the aforementioned infringing marks infringed ZF's exclusive right to use the No. 159226
and the No. G876191 "LEMFÖRDER" trademarks. In addition, Hangzhou Lunfude's unauthorized use of the domain name "lemforder" on its official website infringed ZF's exclusive right to use the No. G876191 "LEMFÖRDER" trademark.
2. Determination of Passing-off as Unfair Competition
ZF's "LMO" mark and the Chinese counterpart "伦福德" of "LEMFÖRDER" are commercial signs with a certain market reputation and are protected by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
ZF's "LMO" mark has gained a certain market reputation and is known to the relevant public in China, thus shall be protected by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Hangzhou Lunfude and Mr. Fang, acting with joint intent, used the "LMO" mark in the form of "
" and "LMO" on the commodities sold and their packaging labels on Hangzhou Lunfude's website, WeChat official account, Douyin account, and Taobao store, and sold commodities bearing the aforementioned marks, which constitutes unfair competition.
After continuous use by ZF in production and operation, combined with the sales time, quantity, amount, region of the commodities and the publicity and promotion efforts, the No. G876191 "LEMFÖRDER" trademark and its corresponding Chinese translation "伦福德" have acquired a certain market reputation and become a commercial sign known to the relevant public in China, which shall be protected by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Being aware of and having the obligation to know such registered trademark and its Chinese translation, Hangzhou Lunfude should have avoided using them but instead registered them as its enterprise name and used "伦福德" and "LEMFÖRDER" in its business operations. Subjectively, it had the intention of free-riding on others' business reputation; objectively, it was likely to cause the relevant public to mistakenly believe that Hangzhou Lunfude had a certain connection with ZF, thereby leading to confusion. Such act constitutes unfair competition.
3. Trademark Squatting and Abusive Rights Enforcement Constitute Unfair Competition
Filing a large number of applications for trademarks identical or similar to others' and using the registered trademarks for abusive rights enforcement violate the principle of good faith.
During the period from 2010 to 2023, Hangzhou Lunfude and Mr. Fang, in the name of Hangzhou Lunfude, applied to the China National Intellectual Property Administration for the registration of graphic or letter combination trademarks identical or similar to marks such as
, "LEMFÖRDER", and "LMO", and used the registered trademarks for abusive rights enforcement. Such acts violate the principle of good faith, disrupt the fair competition market order, damage ZF's legitimate rights and interests, objectively cause confusion among the relevant public, and affect consumers' choices. They constitute unfair competition acts regulated by Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. As a trademark agency, Weibiao Company constitutes joint infringement within the scope of its agency for the aforementioned unfair competition acts of Hangzhou Lunfude and Mr. Fang.