The Tokyo District Court ordered the American video conferencing company Zoom Communications Inc. to pay 160 million yen ($1 million) to the Japanese audio company Zoom Corp. for trademark infringement due to the similarity of their logos.
Additionally, the Japanese distributor of the American service – NEC Networks & System Integration – must pay about 16 million yen (approximately $0.1 million).
According to the court's decision, the Japanese company registered a trademark with its name written horizontally in Latin letters back in 2006. The American firm has been using a logo with the same letters of the alphabet for its video conferencing service since at least 2016.
In April 2020, the Japanese company Zoom approached Zoom Video Communications (the American company changed its name to Zoom Communications in the fall of 2024) requesting to cease the use of the video conferencing service logo. After this request was denied, the Japanese firm filed a lawsuit for damages in 2021.
The court concluded that the similarity of the logos of the two companies could mislead consumers, especially before the sharp increase in the popularity of online communications during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Japanese company claimed that such similarity led to false customer inquiries, market disruptions, and even affected fluctuations in its stock and investor confidence.
At the same time, the court noted that after mid-2020, when video conferencing became a mass phenomenon, users began to better distinguish between the companies. Therefore, compensation was limited to the period before that time.
The court also rejected the request for a ban on the use of the brand, allowing Zoom Communications to continue using its logo.
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