Coca Cola, competitor in court over character clash

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 08, 2004

Coca Cola, competitor in court over character clash

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Global beverage giant Coca Cola has come under fire for its alleged infringement on the trademark rights of a local company over one of its top-selling drink brands. Both sides said that settlement of the matter has been acceptable, after a court hearing Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court began Wednesday its hearing over the suit, filed by Shanghai Yaqing Industry & Trade Co Ltd, against Coca Cola and its local dealer, Shanghai Shenmei Drinks & Food Co Ltd.

The two sides' dispute is centred around the trademark of Coke's Qoo, a fruit juice drink product launched by the beverage company in 1999.

Yaqing claimed the Chinese trademark of Qoo resembles the registered one that the Yaqing side owns after acquiring authorization from State trademark authorities.

The resemblance stems from the similarity between the two trademarks' Chinese versions -- in appearance, pronunciation and meaning -- that has caused public confusion and misled people's consumption patterns, according to Hong Shuben, lawyer for Yaqing.

The Chinese version of Qoo appears as "Ku Er," while the trademark Yaqing owns is "Ku Hai," with the two Chinese characters of "Ku" being the same, and the characters of "Er" and "Hai" -- in Chinese -- can both mean "kid."

Yaqing asked Coca Cola to stop using the Chinese "Ku Er" trademark, destroy the trademark logo and make a public apology.

Yaqing is a local partner of the US-based Monarch Beverage International Group, which also produces various carbonated drinks.

With Yaqing acting as Monarch's major local dealer, a variety of the latter's products -- about 10 to 15 per cent less in price than other famous brands, as claimed by Yaqing on its website -- have entered the Chinese market by supplying mainly domestic large-scale shopping facilities.

But Coca Cola firmly refuted the charge.

The Chinese trademark of Qoo, or "Ku Er," is used on the bottles together with the English version and a cartoon figure as the product's major logo, and such a combination -- highlighting the figure instead of the two Chinese characters -- is apparently different from the trademark Yaqing owns, according to Fu Qiangguo, lawyer for Coca Cola.

"It's impossible for the public to get confused as the way such a combination is presented to them is quite different from the `Ku Hai' trademark," Fu added.

Claiming that Coca Cola has applied for registration of up to 77 trademarks for the Qoo products -- out of which 24 have so far been given official authorization -- around the Asia-Pacific region, Fu said the company began in August of 2000 to apply in Taiwan for the Chinese trademark of "Ku Er," the first time Coca Cola has tried to register such a Chinese trademark in the region.

While the authorization in Taiwan came in February of 2002, the registration application process is still under way in the Chinese mainland, after the "Ku Er" began to enter the domestic market in early 2001.

Yaqing began in November of 2000 to apply for the "Ku Hai" trademark, and was given approval in late 2001.

Yet the Yaqing side admitted that so far no products under the "Ku Hai" brand have been produced and sold to consumers, though it said it had planned to conduct massive manufacturing and marketing campaigns for the "Ku Hai" products.mark Yaqing owns, according to Fu Qiangguo, lawyer for Coca Cola.

"It's impossible for the public to get confused as the way such a combination is presented to them is quite different from the `Ku Hai' trademark," Fu added.

Claiming that Coca Cola has applied for registration of up to 77 trademarks for the Qoo products -- out of which 24 have so far been given official authorization -- around the Asia-Pacific region, Fu said the company began in August of 2000 to apply in Taiwan for the Chinese trademark of "Ku Er," the first time Coca Cola has tried to register such a Chinese trademark in the region.

While the authorization in Taiwan came in February of 2002, the registration application process is still under way in the Chinese mainland, after the "Ku Er" began to enter the domestic market in early 2001.

Yaqing began in November of 2000 to apply for the "Ku Hai" trademark, and was given approval in late 2001.

Yet the Yaqing side admitted that so far no products under the "Ku Hai" brand have been produced and sold to consumers, though it said it had planned to conduct massive manufacturing and marketing campaigns for the "Ku Hai" products.

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