'Crocodile' trademark infringement case concluded

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 24, 2003

'Crocodile' trademark infringement case concluded

The Beijing Higher People's Court Thursday gave approval to the conciliation reached by two "crocodiles" -- the clothing firms French Lacoste and Hong Kong-based Crocodile on trademark disputes.

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The Beijing Higher People's Court Thursday gave approval to the conciliation reached by two "crocodiles" -- the clothing firms French Lacoste and Hong Kong-based Crocodile on trademark disputes.

It marks the first ever ending of the year-long lawsuit put forward by the French firm La Chemise Lacoste against the accused trademark infringement by companies in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Singapore and East China's Zhejiang Province.

According to the agreement, Hong-Kong based Crocodile Garments Ltd should stop using the current picture trademark after March 31,2006, while Lacoste approved that the Hong Kong company could havethe monopoly over a new symbol from that date, which is forbidden from the green color now used in the Lacoste symbol, Thursday's China Daily reported.

"The agreement will lay the solid foundation for the intellectual property rights (IPR) protection of both sides, as well as helping to protect our interests in the Chinese market," said a joint declaration released on Thursday.

Established in 1933, Lacoste has achieved trademark registration in over 190 countries and regions, including China.

Lacoste accused Hong Kong-based Crocodile of using a similar trademark to Lacoste's, which infringed Lacoste's exclusive rightsover the trademark registered in China in 1980.

Lacoste had called for 3.5-million-yuan (423,000 US dollars) compensation in a 1998 legal appeal, but this was scrapped in Thursday's agreement.

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