Homeplus Wins Trademark Lawsuit for 'Mega Food Market'

"Homeplus Trademark Has Very Strong Distinctiveness,
Judged No Risk of Confusion or Misidentification with Megamarket"

Homeplus announced on the 27th that it received a favorable ruling from the Patent Court on the 8th, stating that 'Homeplus Mega Food Market' does not infringe on the trademark rights of 'Mega Market,' a distribution affiliate of the Nongshim Group.

'Homeplus Mega Food Market' Ganseok Branch Store Entrance [Photo by Homeplus].

In this ruling, the Patent Court reaffirmed the decision of the Patent Tribunal from last July, judging that since 'Homeplus' is a widely known trademark with very strong distinctiveness, there is no risk of confusion or misunderstanding between 'Homeplus Mega Food Market' and 'Mega Market.'

Earlier this year, Megamart filed a lawsuit with the Patent Court against Homeplus, claiming infringement of the 'Mega' trademark and seeking confirmation of the scope of rights for Mega Food Market. Mega Food Market is a futuristic large-scale supermarket model introduced by Homeplus in February last year, specializing in ultra-large food stores. When Homeplus opened the first Mega Food Market store in February last year, Megamart filed a petition with the Patent Tribunal in July of the same year to confirm the scope of rights regarding the use of the Mega Food Market trademark. As a result, in January, the Patent Tribunal ruled that no infringement of rights had occurred. Megamart, dissatisfied with this, filed another lawsuit.

Regarding this outcome, Homeplus stated, "Since Homeplus Mega Food Market intuitively uses the concept of 'a very large food market operated by Homeplus' based on the fame and distinctiveness of the Homeplus trademark, the Patent Court's ruling is a reasonable and natural judgment."

Meanwhile, since February last year, Homeplus has been accelerating store renovations led by the remodeling of Homeplus Mega Food Market locations. They explained that improvements in customer convenience and shopping environment have led to growth in sales and customer numbers. In the second year of remodeling, food sales at 10 stores opened this year increased by more than 30% compared to the same period last year. The company plans to make a new leap forward based on the 20th Homeplus Mega Food Market store and continue growth by additionally remodeling major key stores nationwide this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.