1. Zhejiang

LV sues hotel over counterfeit goods

French luxury brand Louis Vuitton Malletier recently filed a lawsuit against the Ramada Hotel in Hangzhou, alleging it sold fake handbags and other LV branded goods.

It asks the court to order the hotel to cease infringement, make a public apology and pay 2.4 million yuan ($379,440) in compensation.

LV told the Binjiang district court that one of its staff members paid 4,500 yuan - about one-tenth the cost of real items - for six products with the LV logo that proved to be fake.

The hotel told the court that the shop was operated by a third party, but LV noted the payment was made at the hotel's front desk, with the payee on the credit card bill listed as the hotel.

The court has yet to issue a verdict.

Qianjiang Evening News

2. Beijing

Chivas trademark upheld for clothes

A Wenzhou resident can legally use the logo of Scotch whisky Chivas Regal on clothes, the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled last week.

Chivas Brothers (America) Ltd filed the lawsuit against the Trademark Appeal Board after it upheld a trademark granted to Wen Xiuli in 2003.

The court found that Chivas failed to present sufficient evidence to prove that the trademark in dispute was well known to the public before Wen's application.

Legal Evening News

Jail term for fake contraceptive pills

Medicine seller Yao Junli has been sentenced to 11 months in jail and fined 1,000 yuan for supplying more than 50 boxes of fake contraceptive pills to an adult commodities store.

The counterfeits were discovered during a regular check by the Beijing Drug Administration.

The storeowner, surnamed Cui, admitted he bought the shipment from Yao and later found out it was fake after his own wife became pregnant even though she took the so-called medicine.

Beijing Daily

3. Yunnan

Collaboration on new plant varieties

Authorities and industries on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan should collaborate to protect rights on new plant varieties, said participants at a recent meeting in the provincial capital Kunming.

The meeting called for cooperation across the Straits on technology, research and applications for flowers and tropical fruit.

Yunnan agricultural experts have filed applications with the Ministry of Agriculture for the rights to 373 new plant varieties.

Eighty have been granted protected status and some have qualified for patents. New varieties have been planted across 4.7 million hectares of farmland, the forum heard.

Yunnan Daily

4. Guangdong

ZTE global leader in patent filings

Shenzhen-headquartered telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp led all global enterprises in international patent applications last year, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The company filed 2,826 patent applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 363 more than the former leader, Panasonic Corp of Japan.

ZTE has now filed more than 40,000 applications and has an inventory of 11,000 granted patents.

YANGCHENG EVENING NEWS

(China Daily 03/21/2012 page17)