A local company has been?ordered to stop infringing on the
copyright of the US-based Starbucks Corporation and to pay
compensation of 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) to the US company.
Shanghai Xingbake Coffee Co Ltd registered the Chinese name in
the country before Starbucks arrived in the Shanghai market.
Starbucks translates "Xingbake" in Chinese.
The ruling in the two-year-old case was issued on Saturday by
the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court.
Lu Guoqiang, chief justice in the case, said Starbucks in both
English and Chinese and its logo designs are deemed famous
trademarks in Shanghai, thanks to their widespread use, publicity
and reputation.
He said such copyrights enjoy special protection.
The Seattle-based Starbucks Corporation set up the first coffee
house in Seattle in 1971.
It entered the Taiwanese market in 1998 and gave authority to
Uni-President Group, a local firm, to manage its coffee houses in
Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
The multinational registered the Chinese translation of
Starbucks, "Xingbake," in China the same year.
Starbucks Corporation entered the Shanghai market by asking
Uni-President Group to found a Starbucks Coffee Company which now
has 38 coffee shops in Shanghai.
Shanghai Xingbake registered its company name in Chinese in
Shanghai on November 20, 1999 after Starbucks had registered its
trademark but before it had registered the joint venture in March
2000.
The Shanghai company began setting up its coffee houses in
2003.
One of the shops of the local company in the city's downtown
Nanjing Road has a design similar to that of Starbucks: a round
logo with green characters against white background Chinese
characters reading "Xing Ba Ke" on the top and Cafe at the
bottom.
The Starbucks logo has white characters against a green
background.
In December 2003, Starbucks Corporation sued the Shanghai
retailer, claiming copyright infringement.
The court ruled that Shanghai Xingbake Coffee Co Ltd constituted
illegitimate competition by using the Chinese translation of
Starbucks in its company name and the translation and a similar
design motif for its coffee houses.
Lu reminded companies intending to take advantage of famous
copyrights that all market players should observe business
ethics.
Starbucks Corporation is the world's largest coffee retailer
with more than 6,500 coffee houses worldwide.
The company has established about 300 outlets in Chinese
mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
(China Daily January 2, 2006)
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