Facebook sees trademark victory against Chinese drinks copycat
Social media giant Facebook has glimpsed a legal victory in China after court deemed a company’s use of the Facebook logo to sell food and drink a breach of copyright.
A local company called 'face book' sold food and drinks branded with the popular social media company – which is conversely not even accessible on the Chinese mainland as a result of its great firewall blocking many Western pages.
Reuters reports that the Beijing Municipal High People's Court shut down Zhongshan Pearl River Drinks’ 2011 application to use the 'face book' trademark on its goods.
The ruling said the company had "violated moral principles" with "obvious intention to duplicate and copy from another high-profile trademark."
The nation is often seen as a soft spot for copyright breaches so the ruling could be seen as a shift in attitudes.
Or not, just last week Apple lost a trademark case against a Chinese fashion retailer selling “IPHONE” branded bags and cases. Xintong Tiandi did however register the “iphone” and “IPHONE” as early as 2007.