HONG KONG (AP) 鈥� A debate over ownership of traditional Chinese symbols has cropped up after a court ordered a local tea chain to pay French luxury brand $1.5 million over trademark infringement claims.
Chinese state-media and online commentators are questioning if the four-petal flower design in the fashion house鈥檚 130-year-old signature monogram is derived from patterns dating back to ancient China. Some are accusing the company of 鈥渕onopolizing鈥� traditional Chinese patterns.
A court in the eastern city of Suzhou recently ruled that the logo of the Molly Tea, whose signature drinks are based on jasmine and other floral-based teas, infringed on Louis Vuitton鈥檚 trademark monogram. It ordered the tea company to pay 10.3 million yuan ($1.5 million) to the French company, according to local media reports that carried copies or details of what they said was the ruling.
Intellectual property fights between Western and Chinese brands are not uncommon. International brands like American sneaker maker New Balance have taken Chinese firms to local courts and sometimes prevailed in intellectual property and trademark cases.
The judgement has been trending online in China.
The state owned newspaper Beijing Daily said Tuesday in a post on the popular online platform Weibo that the ruling exposed a gap in protections of ancient Chinese heritage and symbols.
鈥淲hy did a Chinese enterprise end up paying more than 10 million yuan in damages to a French company for using a design that resonated with the spirit of China鈥檚 centuries-old patterns?鈥� it said.
鈥淐hinese netizens accuse LV of attempting to monopolize ancient motifs after lawsuit against tea brand,鈥� said a headline in the Global Times, a state-owned English language newspaper. It asserted there was 鈥渨idespread frustration鈥� over a foreign brand controlling a design believed to be part of China’s cultural heritage.
A photo and caption accompanying the article showed patterns on a Tang Dynasty rosewood 鈥減ipa,鈥� a kind of Chinese traditional lute, side-by-side with the Louis Vuitton monogram pattern.
Louis Vuitton is celebrating the 130th anniversary of its monogram designed in 1896, which it has called a 鈥渦niversal symbol of creativity.鈥� The monogram was 鈥渋nspired by neo-gothic ornamentation and the influence of Japonism,鈥� its parent LVMH’s website says.
LVMH and Molly Tea did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Molly Tea, founded in 2021, was still displaying its four-petal flower logo on its official website as of Tuesday. The company told local media it was planning to appeal.
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