A well-known lamb hotpot restaurant is at the center of a bitter copyright dispute, with a Shanghai court holding a final hearing on the case yesterday.

Zhao Donglian, a native of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and a catering company are fighting for the copyright of the logo and characters of Xiao Mei Yang, the hotpot chain.

Zhao, claiming the copyright belongs to her, filed a lawsuit against Shanghai Xiao Mei Yang Catering Management Co Ltd at the Pudong New Area People's Court, alleging copyright violation. She is seeking 500,000 yuan (US$60,241) in compensation.

But Xiao Mei Yang that owns more than 100 franchise restaurants has countersued Zhao. It has asked the court to give the copyright to the company.

Zhao said in the lawsuit that she signed an agreement with Shanghai Jincaiyi Computer Graphics Design and Production Co Ltd on June 20, 2002, asking it to design figures and characters based on the theme of sheep.

Jincaiyi later provided its design of a cartoon sheep wearing a green dress and three graphic Chinese characters of Xiao Mei Yang and transferred the copyright to Zhao.

Zhao then joined hands with Hui Xiaoning, current board chairman of Xiao Mei Yang, to set up the Xiao Mei Yang company in November 2002.

A year later, she transferred her shares to Hui.

"But when they were negotiating the trademark transfer contract, Hui raised objections. He also recruited franchises, allowing them to use the logo and characters without Zhao's consent," Bai Shouhua, her lawyer, alleged.

Xiao Mei Yang, however, expressed doubts over the deal between Zhao and Jincaiyi. Xu Yongjun, the company lawyer, said the copyright should belong to the company, since it had asked Jincaiyi to make designs for 55 items, including the logo and the Xiao Mei Yang characters, in November 2002.

Source: eastday.com