Five major luxury brand names succeeded in safeguarding their
trademark rights yesterday in a lawsuit against Beijing-based Silk
Street Market.
The Beijing High People's Court upheld a previous ruling by the
Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court last December that backed
the claims of Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry.
The ruling requires Silk Street Market to pay 20,000 yuan
(US$2,500) in compensation to each company for trademark
infringement.
"We are satisfied with the final judgment, with the exception of
the amount of compensation." Wang Yadong, legal counsel for the
five brand owners, told China Daily.
Initially, each of the five demanded compensation of 500,000
yuan (US$62,000).
Wang Zili, a representative for the market, expressed his
disappointment at the final ruling, saying it was near impossible
for operators to eradicate counterfeiting in such a large
market.
Huai Xiaofeng, vice president of Beijing High People's Court,
said the courts would go to great lengths to crack down on
counterfeiters.
Each of the five brand owners found counterfeits of their
products in the Silk Street Market and presented them as evidence
of counterfeiting in a coordinated act in 2005 aimed at protecting
their intellectual property rights (IPR).
They filed a collective complaint against the market last May
calling for the prohibition of counterfeits. But the fakes were
still on sale at the market a month later, and the brand owners
decided to bring both the market and the individual stores to
court.
The ruling against the market can be attributed to its inaction
to address the concerns of the plaintiffs, according to Zhang
Lumin, presiding judge of the IPR tribunal with the Beijing High
People's Court.
Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton is suing Carrefour's Shanghai joint
venture for selling fake handbags.
A hearing was held yesterday at Shanghai No 2 Intermediate
People's Court, in which the French fashion designer demanded about
600,000 yuan (US$74,000) in compensation from Shanghai Carrefour
Lianhua Supermarket Co Ltd.
On December 12 last year, a Louis Vuitton employee found three
different handbags either with the LV trademark or patterns similar
to theirs on sale in the supermarket along downtown Wuning
Road.
They were being sold for 49.90 yuan (US$6.2) each, while an
authentic Louis Vuitton handbag costs about 9,000 yuan
(US$1,125).
The employee bought one of the bags and two more the next day
with local notary officials. He then reported it to the local
industry and commerce administration, which confiscated 37 other
handbags from the supermarket on December 13.
Lin Yi, lawyer for Louis Vuitton, accused the supermarket of
deliberately violating the plaintiff's trademark, an act that
caused severe damage to the brand and the company's reputation.
"The accused company sold the fake products knowing that Louis
Vuitton is recognized as one of the top luxury brands in the
world," Lin said.
Liu Daorong, the lawyer of Shanghai Carrefour Lianhua
Supermarket Co Ltd, said only one of the three designs, which had
the Louis Vuitton trademark, broke the law. He said there were no
similarities between the other two designs and original Louis
Vuitton bags.
An employee from Shenzhen Runquan Co Ltd, who provides handbags
to Carrefour, gave evidence in court.
"I had only 60 handbags left when Carrefour ordered 100 at the
end of last year," according to Han Chunyue.
"I went to a market beside Chenghuang Temple and bought 40 from
a street vendor at 20 yuan (US$2.5) each.
Han said he had not previously heard of the Louis Vuitton
brand.
Liu noted that the supermarket was willing to pay compensation
to Louis Vuitton, but argued that 600,000 yuan (US$75,000) was too
much.
No verdict was reached yesterday.
(China Daily April 19, 2006)