Montagut contractors raise further appeal over trademark dispute

January 4, 2008

The Chinese agent and manufacturer of French fashion brand Montagut have appealed to a higher court in Shanghai against an earlier court ruling of paying 100,000 yuan （13,500 U.S. dollars） in compensation to a Chinese firm for trademark infringement.

Guangzhou Funa Clothing Co., Ltd. -- Montagut’s general agent of underwear in China, and Shanghai Guangnuo Garment Co., Ltd. -- the manufacturer, appealed to the Shanghai High People’s Court on December 10, claiming that the first-instance sentence handed down by Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court was improper.

The initial verdict said the two defendants, which named a kind of man’s wool underwear with “AB”, had infringed the trademark right of the plaintiff Jiangsu AB Group Co., Ltd. and thus should compensate the due economic loss.

However, the two companies said the first-instance ruling overprotected the ordinary letter composition of A and B.

They claimed that the disputed underwear contains a mixture of two kinds of yarn that are habitually called as AB yarn, so the lawsuit filed by the plaintiff was of obvious vicious purpose.

According to Wang Junbao, Deputy Director of Standardization Institute of Textile Industry, no industry standards have been established to name compound materials in China.

The case may help to promote relevant government authorities to stipulate industrial criterion on traditional materials, said Wang.