A final adjudication over a sausage brand dispute in Tianjin, a port municipality in north China, has been dissolved after the court ruled the contested name was too similar to the huge US Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fast food brand.
The plaintiff, the Changcheng Meat Processing Company in Beichen district, sued the Jinxi Qitemei Food Company in Xiqing district late last year, alleging the defendant infringed its sausage brand "Kendeji."
The Jinxi Qitemei Food Company appealed to a higher court after the first hearing in the Tianjin No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, ruled that it stop using the name "Kendeji" and pay 30,000 yuan (over 3,600 US dollars) compensation to the plaintiff.
The Tianjin People's Higher Court, overturned the first verdict and rejected the plaintiff's charge.
The verdict ruled that neither company was justified in using the brand, because "Kendeji" has the same pronunciation and similar characters in Chinese as Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The verdict said that the use of the name went against the accepted principle of honesty in business and will mislead consumers to associate their products with that of the American-based fast food chain.
The sausages made by the two companies were also marked "American flavor."
The Changcheng Meat Processing Company started to produce sausages branded "Kendeji" in May, 1995 and the "Kendeji" brand was registered under its license. The Qitemei Food Company started producing "Kendeji" in 2000.
(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2003)
