business

Shiseido sues Chinese firms for trademark violations

8 Comments

Cosmetics maker Shiseido Co has lodged a lawsuit against three Chinese cosmetics makers, claiming that their products infringe on Shiseido's trademarks, informed sources said Wednesday.

Shiseido filed the lawsuit with a Shanghai court against Shanghai Jingdian Cosmetics Co and two others, alleging that they sold cosmetics using trademarks such as "Shidoas" that closely resemble Shiseido's registered trademarks, the sources said.

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Shiseido filed the lawsuit with a Shanghai court against Shanghai Jingdian Cosmetics Co and two others, alleging that they sold cosmetics using trademarks such as “Shidoas” that closely resemble Shiseido’s registered trademarks, the sources said.

LOL, I understand the business aspect of possible copyright infringements but as they say imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery. Shoot there are probably so many copyright violations round those parts it's useless to fight them.

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as they say imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery. Shoot there are probably so many copyright violations round those parts it's useless to fight them.

yeah, copycat crimes eh? let's just forget them all. probably so many people driving without seatbelts all the world, underage kids drinking, shoplifting, corporate crime etc..all rife. why stop any of them?

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Unless its exactly the same trademark, expect them to lose. It would be a devastating precedent to the Chinese economy if they were to side with Shiseido on this one. Rule of law is not a guarantee in China, but especially in this case its not something that the government would provide.

Do you think that people that buy the Shiseido knockoffs actually have the purchasing power to buy the authentic goods? them buying the fake goods is not reducing the demand for the real goods, so i believe the actual damage to Shiseido is minimal, actually its a form of free promotion. haha what i just said is the classic argument for the counterfeiter hehehe.

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I'll never forget the shock when I found out some dodgy sweatshop was churning out cheap ROLEX copies of my expensive RDLEX watch.

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Well, some day even China will have to conform to international agreements and honor copyright laws. And by that time some other 3rd world country will attempt to get a piece of the pie using similar tactics that are as old as the start of civilization. Discover (=find; see) something useful, potentially profitable? Copy it and, very often, improve on it. And??

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Improved on it, and what??? “Shidoas” is not a big deal. Leave them alone. There is always an unstated presumption that everything has been created by the Westerns. This is all the same as what’s been happening in American classrooms. When foreign students (Japanese/Chinese/Korean etc) work very hard and get a good grade, they are imitators, while American students are always creators/inventors. MP3 players were invented by the Americans, right? Can’t wait to see Apple re-create Eee PC.

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There is a certain amount of irony to this story. The history of intellectual property law is rife with examples of countries, including Japan, that either lacked patent or trademark laws, failed to enforce them, or interpreted them very loosely at a time when most domestic companies did not have significant amounts of valuable intellectual property. Then, as domestic companies developed patent portfolios and valuable brand names and other trademarks, IP enforcment would become ever more stringent. China today is similar to Japan 30-35 years ago in that respect. And, as Chinese companies begin to expand their patent portfolios and as Chinese brand names begin to achieve greater recognition as signifying quality goods that can be purchased for a reasonable price, you can expect the Chinese to begin enforcing their IP laws with much greater zeal. The Shiseido case will be a good indicator of whether the Chinese government thinks that China has gotten to the point where IP protection is more important to the success of the Chinese economy that allowing Chinese companies to violate the IP rights of foreign companies.

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there used to be a time when "Made in Japan" was slapped on the cheapest goods. However, Japan decided to invest a very high percentage on R&D, leading to innovation.

In most of China, there is very little investment in REAL R&D (not just reverse engineering or product development), therefore there is not much of a future, and the technology gap will only widen with time. I have visited and met with most of the leading Chinese brand name companies, and only a handful are actually doing any innovation, the rest are focused on the low end of the market, commodities or downright copies/fakes. recent changes in the global economy are putting the Chinese economic model to the test.

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