Another Foreign IP Victory -- Ferrero

The Tianjin High Court ruled last week in favor of Italian Chocolatier, Ferrero Rocher,in a case against Zhangjiagang Foods, alleging copycat chocolates.  The court ordered the local company to immediately stop producing the copycat chocolates and to pay $87,000 in damages. 

This actually prompted the Voice of America to remark that "[s]everal Western multinationals have won copyright piracy cases against Chinese companies in recent weeks." 

We see this decision as additional proof the Chinese courts (at least the higher level ones) will enforce properly registered IP rights, even on behalf of Western companies against Chinese companies.  Though some may question the low amount of damages, Ferrero Rocher has to be quite happy with the court's cessation of production order. The fact this decision came out of Tianjin (as opposed to Shanghai or Beijing) is further proof Chinese courts are beginning to take seriously their role in protecting IP rights. 

Comments

[Steven Cusperson]

I live in China so I knew the courts would eventually rule in Rocher's favor. I knew this because both Chinese citizens and the Chinese government are particularly concerned about clearing out copycat food items, for safety reasons as much as anything.

[Heather Rosen]

Do you happen to know what law firm and even what lawyer represented Ferrero in the Higher People's Court of Tianjin?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[China Law Blog]

Ms. Rosen --

I do not know the law firm that handled this case, but I believe I will be able to find it out. All (or nearly all) Chinese IP decisions are now online and so I will ask Steve (who is fluent in Chinese) to try to determine this from the case, assuming this one is online. Steve is actually in Italy right now, teaching a short course on international law to lawyers so it may take a few days. If that does not work, I will contact Chinese lawyers who ought to be able to find this out with a phone call to the court.