Rule of (commercial) law in China
Dan Harris recently posted this tidbit to his China Law Blog as an illustration of the progress China is making toward establishing a rule of law in the commercial environment.China Court Kills Yamaha Imposter's Joyride
"A recently decided Chinese Supreme Court case highlights both the lengths to which Chinese companies will go to counterfeit product and also that the courts there are really starting to crack down on such violations. The case involved the well known Chinese scooter manufacturing company, Zhejiang Huatian, which manufactured and sold scooters under the name of the world's second-largest motorcycle company, Yamaha Motor. Forbes Magazine reporter, Shu-Ching Jean Chen describes the case more fully in his article entitled, "Yamaha Copycat Crashes in Court":"'The Chinese company....registered a shell company in Japan's remote Ishikawa prefecture in 2000 under the same three characters used by Yamaha to render its name in Chinese. This Japanese shell company then signed a licensing agreement with Zhejiang Huatian, allowing it to market its scooters in China under that name. Zhejiang Huatian went a step further by printing Yamaha's name in English letters on its scooters.'
"The case took five years but just ended in a landmark decision by the Supreme People's Court in China awarding Yahama Motor $1.1 million, the highest amount of damages ever awarded in China in a trademark dispute involving a foreign company.
"In a statement made by Yamaha after the ruling, the company said, 'We hope our lawsuit serves as a useful reference somehow to other enterprises confronted with similar trademark infringements.' It should. It is further proof that China's courts take intellectual property rights violations seriously and that such cases are worth pursuing, even for foreign companies."
Labels: China, rule-of-law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:20 AM
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