Shanghai Shan Yibai Law Firm - Investigation into Brand Confusion in the Catering Sector
Company overview
Shanghai Shan Yibai Law Firm was established in October 2024 and is a general partnership law firm licensed by the Shanghai Judicial Bureau. Its principal judicial administrative authority is the Jading District Judicial Bureau of Shanghai. The firm holds both legal practitioner and patent agent qualifications, enabling it to provide specialized legal services in areas such as corporate operations, intellectual property protection, and dispute resolution. This project focuses on brand identifier recognition and consumer source attribution, utilizing third-party market research to provide data-based insights into consumer cognition, supporting trademark dispute analysis and related legal services.
Research background
In the context of dining experiences, ordinary consumers typically assess a restaurant's brand origin by integrating visual elements such as brand name, font style, storefront signage, logo design, interior ambiance, and cuisine type. Unlike professionals who analyze trademark components systematically, general consumers do not perform such detailed comparisons. When two Yunnan-style catering brands exhibit significant similarities in their brand identifiers and store presentations, it becomes critical to determine whether consumers can accurately distinguish them as separate brands, and whether they might mistakenly perceive the two establishments as belonging to the same restaurant. To obtain more objective and statistically valid evidence of public perception, Shanghai Shan Yibai Law Firm engaged a third-party research institution to conduct a focused study on consumers' intuitive judgments in real dining decision-making scenarios.
Research scope
In June 2026, CEIDEA Research was commissioned by Shanghai Shan Yibai Law Firm to conduct a study on brand confusion in the catering sector in Shanghai, employing a hybrid approach combining online testing and on-site consumer interviews. The research targeted the general public with recent dining experience and non-catering industry backgrounds. Using a standardized electronic questionnaire and visual presentation materials, respondents were guided to observe the textual marks, logos, and store displays of two Yunnan-style catering brands, to assess their ability to distinguish between the two as separate catering brands and whether they would perceive the establishments as belonging to the same brand or having the same source. The formal survey was conducted through random intercepts in public spaces, with quality control measures including on-site supervision by a notary public, full audio recording of questionnaires, recording of location data, standardized question order, independent respondent responses confirmed, and verification of anomalous data. These measures ensured the authenticity, independence, and traceability of the results regarding consumer brand differentiation, confusion tendencies, and source attribution.
Expected outcomes
The project is expected to produce a third-party research report that objectively reflects the general public's perception of the visual identifiers and source attribution of the relevant catering brands. The findings will clearly present consumers' ability to distinguish between the two brands, their tendency toward confusion, and the likelihood of mistaken source attribution. The study will also analyze the comprehensive impact of brand name, font design, storefront signage, and overall visual presentation on consumer judgment. Research outputs will include the execution documents, raw data, process records, notarization materials, and a detailed analysis report on brand confusion, providing market research-based support for subsequent trademark dispute arguments, case file preparation, and intellectual property legal services, thereby enhancing the objectivity and explainability of factual analysis.
Scan to add our research consultant