Crocodile debate

Lacoste, a French clothing company, sued two garment factories and a department store in Beijing last week to safeguard its trademark in China.

The Guangzhou Tai'e Garment Company in South China's Guangdong Province, the Beijing Nianniangao Garment & Accessories Company, and the Beijing Chengxiang Department Store were sued for violating Lacoste's registered trademark rights, according to Chinacourt.org.

The garments produced by Tai'e, despite bearing its own trademark of Jin'e, used Lacoste logos, according to the firm.

The Beijing Nianniangao Company was accused of selling Tai'e's products at outlets in department stores including the Beijing Chengxiang Department Store. Lacoste asked for a compensation of 1 million yuan (US$125,000).

The court accepted the case on July 21. No hearing was held.

In a previous case, Lacoste also sued the trademark appraisal committee of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

Last May, the committee reaffirmed Singaporean Cartelo's trademark registration of its character and crocodile logo. The committee said that the trademark of Cartelo was obviously different from that of Lacoste.

But the French company insisted the crocodile logo applied by Cartelo was similar to that of Lacoste, which was registered in 1983. They claimed the registration of the Singaporean trademark should not be authorized.

There used to be a number of products bearing the crocodile trademark, including the French company and others from Hong Kong, Singapore and China's Zhejiang Province.

But in 2003, the Hong Kong "crocodile" reached an agreement with Lacoste and promised not to use trade marks similar to the firm's after 2006. In 2005, the Zhejiang company also promised to cease using the crocodile trademark or logo in its products after a certain period time.

Boitech patent case

Beijing Ganli Biological Technology Co is suing Eli Lilly & Company, a US-based pharmaceutical maker, for patent violation in the Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court.

Ganli, a local drug maker established in 1998, is requiring the US company to stop selling and distributing Humalog in China. Insulin lispro, the main ingredient of Eli Lily's Humalog, are hormones used to control the blood sugar of diabetes patients.

The Beijing company is also seeking compensation of 250,000 yuan (US$31,350).

Ganli says it obtained the patent for insulin lispro medicine in 1998 in China and that Eli Lilly's product Humalog, which was launched in China in 2005, infringed on at least three of Ganli's 100 claims on their insulin patent.

In April 2005, Ganli obtained a patent registration for insulin from the China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). Ganli also obtained patent registration in the United States, Russia, and other countries.

Last July, the US company charged the Beijing drug maker for breaking the patents it owned concerning the production of insulin lispro.

Lilly said the insulin was invented by its researchers in 1989 and went on clinical trial that year. It added it has not granted any Chinese company the right to produce the drug.

In addition, Eli Lily says Humalog is now used by more than 1.2 million diabetic patients and holds several patent registrations worldwide, including five in China.

Lilly markets its product in over eighty countries around the world and has been in operation since 1996, but only entered the China market last year. Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court started the trial of the case on July 25.

Yahoo litigation

A group of music companies is considering suing Yahoo China to stop the company from copyright infringement.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a music industry body, says Yahoo China has infringed its members' rights by providing links to illegal music download sites and it is preparing to file a lawsuit against the Internet company.

Yahoo China is a partnership between Internet giant Yahoo Inc, which owns 40 per cent of the business, and China's Alibaba.com.

The website is being criticized for providing links to Web sites that offer unlicensed music downloads.

Baidu.com, Yahoo China's Chinese counterparts, which ran a similar search engine, was ordered by the court last year to stop directing users to music download sites.

The IFPI represents over 1,400 music companies across the world, and has relied on an anti-piracy strategy of lawsuits against illegal music services.

(China Daily 08/07/2006 page9)