A Beijing lift company lost their lawsuit yesterday against the South Korean electronic giant LG Group for trademark infringement.

The Beijing Languang Lift Company, also known as "LG," demanded 100 million yuan (US$12 million) for trademark violation compensation and insisted that the Korean LG Group's two subsidiaries -- LG Electronics Inc and LG Industrial Systems Co Ltd -- stop using "LG" on its elevators and remove signs on products already in use.

But the Beijing High People's Court ruled that the Chinese company's petition was without merit at a second hearing yesterday.

The court said the Beijing company's name "LG" stands for the first two letters of "Lan" and "Guang" in pinyin, which has a different pronunciation and meaning from the South Korean company's name which is based on English letters.

The court found that the Korean LG Group did not infringe on Beijing Languang's trademark because of the differences in name and the design of the logos.

The Chinese company declined to comment on whether they will appeal to a higher court.

The Korean company also declined to comment.

The first hearing on this case opened at the Beijing High People's Court in late April this year.

But the trademark dispute between the two companies goes back years.

The South Korean firm intended to buy the trademark from the Chinese Languang Company in 1996 for 100,000 yuan (US$12,100), but Languang refused the deal.

The Languang Lift Company then appealed to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce saying that the Korean firm's trademark was identical to the Chinese company's already registered trademark.

A trademark review board gave a final administrative judgment in late 2000 -- ruling that LG Electronics Inc should withdraw their use of "LG" and their logo on elevators and elevator products that were made before the year 2000. But the Chinese company claimed that the Korean company was still using the logo after 2000.

"The LG companies never used the 'LG' trademark on elevators after it was forbidden by the trademark review board," said Zou Weining, who represented the South Korean firm.

He argues that the use of the logo on elevators was legal before 2000 because it was registered in 1997 at China's trademark bureau.

Languang's lawyer Yu Yaqin said the Korean company has made huge profits through the production of lifts using the "LG" trademark.

(China Daily July 12, 2002)