DIAGEO, the British-based maker of Johnnie Walker, received 120,000 yuan (US$19,046) compensation from two Chinese companies that used the Scotch whisky's name on their skin-care products, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration said yesterday.
Diageo brought the trademark-infringement suit to the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, saying two Chinese companies in neighboring Jiangsu Province used the name and pattern similar to Johnnie Walker's registered trademarks and seeking 500,000 yuan in compensation.
The defendants, Bishuang Biological Technology Co and Wuxi Yongru Biological Cosmetics Co, argued that their Johnnie Walker product name was registered under a different category from the whisky maker in 2007.
"Chinese customers will not be misled because our name was used on olive oil skin-care products," the defendants said.
Diageo argued that using the Johnny Walker name would mislead Chinese buyers to believe the cosmetics companies had something to do with the whisky maker.
The court said the issue came down to whether Johnnie Walker was a famous trademark deserving protection under the Chinese Trademark Law.
Over the past five years, Johnnie Walker has invested nearly 800 million yuan on advertising and promotion activities in China. The foreign firm also provided evidence including its latest market share to prove Johnnie Walker was a famous trademark.
Source: East Day
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