A department store in Beijing which was selling fake handbags
supposedly produced by?designer Louis Vuitton has been ordered
to pay the Frenchman 150,000 yuan (US$18,500) by a city court.
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled that Chaowai
Men's Department Store had infringed the world-famous Vuitton
trademark.
In addition the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court will
today hear a similar case in which Vuitton accuses a Shanghai
supermarket of selling fake handbags.
In yesterday's case the designer stated that 22 stalls within
the department store sold handbags bearing the Vuitton trademark
without authorization.
A fake handbag was sold at the store for 100 yuan (US$12). The
price of a genuine Vuitton handbag in Beijing is around 5,000 yuan
(US$620).
Vuitton claimed one of the firm’s employees bought a fake
handbag at the store in September last year.
The French company wrote to the store requesting that it stop
selling the fake goods. The store responded quickly saying that it
had taken the necessary steps.
But a month later the plaintiff bought 21 fake handbags at the
same store and an advertisement using the Vuitton trademark was
attached to a wall in the store.
Vuitton initially asked for compensation of 1 million yuan
(US$125,000). However, store officials insisted the stalls where
the fake handbags were being sold were rented out by them. "The
store has fulfilled its obligations of supervision," the defense
said.
Ding Ran, the store's attorney, refused to comment on the
judgment. She also declined to say whether her client would
appeal.
In yesterday's ruling the court said the department store was
obliged to stop selling fake goods.
The local market watchdog forbid the store renting stalls to
those selling goods with the illegal trademarks six months before
it had actually opened, stated the judgment.
"The defendant obviously failed to fulfill its obligations of
supervision. The store provided convenience to traders in pirated
goods,” said the ruling.
But the court reduced the financial award in line with the
plaintiff's losses and the defendant's errors, court sources
said.
Vuitton won a case against the Silk Street Market last year for
trademark infringement. Last December, the same intermediate court
ordered the market which rents stalls, to pay 100,000 yuan
(US$12,500) to Vuitton and four other international designers.
The Silk Street Market appealed to the Beijing High People's
Court. A final judgment is expected today.
(China Daily April 18, 2006)