The plaintiff, P&G, registered the trademark "Tide," a brand of soap products, in China in 1992 and enjoys the exclusive use of the name, which it registered in 160 countries.

However, when trying to register "Tide" as a domain name at the CNNIC, P&G found the name was already in use by Beijing Tiandi Electronics Group as www.tide.com.cn.

P&G believed this infringed upon its legitimate rights and interests. P&G has long registered www.tide.com.

When they tried to discuss the issue earlier, Tiandi group agreed to transfer the domain name while requiring compensation of 700,000 yuan (US$85,000).

On Monday, the defendant argued in court to justify its use of the domain name "Tide." It registered "Tide" as its English company name in 1994.

But "Tide" never served as a trademark for the group.

Furthermore, the group referred to the rule of "first come, first served" in the registration of domain names in China.

"We are not in the same business realm as P&G. The accusation of 'unethical competition' is groundless. We should not be restrained from using the name," said an official in Tiandi Group.

P&G argued that "Tide" had been launched as a trademark in 1976. It had acquired a large market share and had become a household name.

The disputed points include whether Tiandi Group has infringed the proper rights and interests of P&G by registering www.tide.com.cn.

(China Daily 10/18/2000)