A court in Shanghai has ordered two Chinese shoe manufacturers
and a French supermarket to pay American sporting goods giant Nike
350,000 yuan (US$46,000) compensation for copyright
infringement.
Jinjiang Longzhibu Shoes Co Ltd and Jinjiang Kangwei Shoes Co
Ltd manufactured shoes bearing a logo that was "basically the same"
as one of Nike's -- a silhouette of former basketball star Michael
Jordan slam-dunking -- the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's
Court said yesterday. And the Shanghai branch of France-based
retailer Auchan was guilty of selling the products without
permission from Nike, it said.
"All three have conducted copyright infringement against Nike,"
the verdict read.
The shoemakers were ordered to pay 100,000 yuan and 90,000 yuan
in compensation and Shanghai Auchan Hypermarket Co Ltd 160,000
yuan.
The three will also have to publish an apology to counter the
negative effects of the infringement.
As one of the most popular international brands in China, Nike
has been a target for many counterfeiters in recent years.
Customs officers in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, said recently they had this year
seized more than 70,000 pairs of copied shoes bound for export. And
in its latest raid, nearly 40,000 pairs of Nike shoes were
confiscated, along with quantities of Adidas and Puma products.
The Shanghai High People's Court said early this year that
courts in Shanghai had seen an increase in intellectual property
rights (IPR) cases. Most copied brands, such as Levi Strauss, Nike
and Adidas, came from the United States, Britain, Japan and
Germany.
During a raid on two shops in the city, a district industry and
commerce bureau found more than 200 fake Giorgio Armani, Puma and
Nike items of apparel. The owners of the two shops said they bought
the pieces for 5 to 10 yuan and sold them for much more.
Nike registered the Jordan logo in China in 1993. In January,
its employees purchased four pairs of sports shoes bearing a
similar logo from the three Auchan stores in Shanghai. On February
2, Nike's lawyers sent letters to Auchan, informing them of the
infringement and asking them to produce purchase and sale records
for the product. But the shoes were still on sale at two of the
stores at the end of the month, Nike told the court.
It filed a suit against Shanghai Auchan and the two shoemakers
in May, demanding total compensation of 1 million yuan.
(China Daily August 21, 2007)
