Guangzhou: Sporting Goods Dispute

Several Guangdong shops were sued by Rudolf Dassler Sporting Goods for allegedly infringing its trademark of a puma animal.

According to the IPR Tribunal of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, Guangzhou courts accepted 1,082 cases on the Puma trademarks between June 2006 and August.

Several cases are still pending at the Guangzhou courts.

The sporting goods company said it registered trademarks for the word Puma, the figures of the puma animal and the combination of the two in 1978, and had used all three in mass marketing.

In 2006, Puma sued the online sales network taobao.com in Guangzhou for creating a platform for multiple online shops to sell counterfeit Puma products. The company sought 1 million yuan in damages.

The trial court, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, denied Puma's claims, ruling that taobaoo.com exercised its duty to check the identity of sellers.

Puma has since brought numerous manufacturers, department stores, wholesale markets and self-employed individuals to court.

(Source: China Daily)

2009-10-12