Across China: Guangdong

LV trademark

Appealing six legal cases on trademark infringement before Guangdong High People's Court, Louis Vuitton (LV) eventually settled with the Guangdong hotel chain Gladden Hotel and a distributor, Zhao Hong.

In 2007, the designer brand filed six cases in Dongguan Intermediate People's Court for trademark infringement. The court held that the infringing products used labels identical with LV's registered trademarks.

Zhao's shop was inside the premises of the Gladden Hotel, and the court granted an injunction calling for destruction of infringing products. The court also awarded LV 600,000 yuan in damages.

Gladden Hotel appealed to the Guangdong High People's Court. The presiding judge then facilitated the settlement.

On-site IP inspections

Tao Kaiyuan, director of the Intellectual Property Office of Guangdong province, recently attended the China International SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Fair, the China-Spain SME Fair and the Guangzhou International Beauty & Cosmetic Import-Export Expo to inspect the locations for any intellectual property (IP) violations.

The exhibitions are well-known international events, and the Guangdong office dispatched staff members to consult with attendees and hear infringement complaints.

During the inspections, Tao also promoted improving intellectual property rights (IPR) awareness.

The Chinese International SME Fair attracted 1,500 overseas exhibitors and featured 6,187 booths. During the fair, authorities heard four IP complaints.

Authorities heard seven patent infringement complaints during the Beauty Expo, which attracted at least 2,000 exhibitors.The complaints were successfully resolved, authorities said.

(China Daily 10/19/2009 page9)