In the final decision for the case regarding a domain name www.olay.com.cn, Beijing High People's Court found for the plaintiff US-based company Procter & Gamble (P & G), ordering the defendant ChinaGo International (Beijing) to forgo its registration of the domain name within 10 days and pay the damage of 900 Chinese Yuan to the plaintiff. 

Plaintiff P & G registered its top level domain name olay.com in August 1995.  In 1999, P & G obtained the trademark registrations of OLAY and OIL OF OLAY from the Trademark Office of the then State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).  With the permission from P & G, Guang Zhou P & G Inc. used the OIL OF OLAY trademark on its cosmetics.  OIL OF OLAY was also listed into SAIC's National Register for Important Trademarks.  On May 7 1999, defendant ChinaGo International (Beijing) filed an application for the registration of olay.com.cn to the China Internet Network Information Center.  Beijing High People's Court found the registration by China Go International (Beijing) constituted unfair competition.  On the same day, the same court made another four final decisions on cases concerning Internet domain names.  Four foreign brands with certain reputation in China, UPS, SUBWAY, ELLE and NINEWEST claims their .CN domain names. 

(Reported by Gao Zhi; Translated by Hu Yuzhang)

2002-05-13

2002-05-13