New Balance Wins Lawsuit in Chinese Court
Pathetic forgeries are not uncommon these days. Small companies really copy everything to reach the big success of the big labels. One company in China was now doomed. New Barlun not only had a similar name to New Balance, but also a similar logo. The iconic N logo was really only slightly modified.
The Boston-based brand then displayed the Chinese brand and won. New Barlun had to pay an incredible $1.5 million to New Balance for the cheap copy. The verdict - the N logo could confuse customers.
The Fashion Law summarized the decision by senior lawyer and director of intellectual property China at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner Aaron Wininger:
"As a competitor in the same industry, New Barlun is still using the similar logo in the same position of the similar goods produced by the trademark, knowing that the N-letter logo on both sides of the shoes has some influence and this causes market confusion," Wininger explained in connection with the court's decision. "This leads consumers to misidentify the brand and the manufacturer of the goods, which is contrary to the principles of good faith and accepted business ethics and constitutes unfair competition".
The Chinese label paid damages in the amount of 10 million yen (approx. USD 1.41 million) and another 800,000 yen (approx. USD 110,000) in legal costs.
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