PUMA got the short end due to copying trademark of one Chinese company

You probably thought that only Chinese copy world known brands and their trademarks but that the reverse is not possible? However, it can happen that big companies take advantage of someone else’s copyrighted work and get into trouble.

PUMA, the renowned German sports equipment company, is obliged to pay $ 421.340 in damages to Chinese-based wool producer. The court in Shanghai ruled that PUMA violated trademark rights of this firm because it had copied image that was created specially for the Year of Goat and used it on hoods of sweaters. This way, PUMA mislead customers to think that this clothing is connected to the Chinese brand. The only difference between two trademarks was the size.

The money that PUMA has to pay off represents half of the total earnings of PUMA for items with that image! The Chinese company was aware that it is important to protect their intellectual property, and thanks to that it was able to obtain compensation.

* A trademark is basically a sign that is used to distinguish the goods or services offered by one undertaking from those offered by another. it must be distinctive and it should not be deceptive. It can consist of words, slogans, letters, numbers, images of paintings, drawings, schedules, it can be in three-dimensional form, the combination of these characters, as well as musical phrases represented graphically.

Source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Court-not-kidding-on-goat-ruling/shdaily.shtml