Chivas wins Chinese copycat case

A court in China has ruled in favour of Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Regal and found two companies guilty of trademark infringements.

The ruling is the culmination of three years of litigation, and saw the Hangzhou intermediate court ordering two Shandong companies to pay damages of 500,000 yuan (US$78,700) for infringing four separate Chivas trademarks.

Significantly, the court also ruled in favour of Chivas saying that copycat packaging used on “Elysee Royal” whisky infringed their intellectual property rights.

Elysee Royal is manufactured and distributed by the companies Yantai Aowei and Yantai Chivas. Chivas Brothers first brought the case against them in 2009.

Chivas said in a statement that “the success of the trial has demonstrated the growing importance the Chinese government places on the protection of intellectual property”.

Con Constandis, of Pernod Ricard China, said “the success of the trial is of great significance to Pernod Ricard as it is our first win in China against look-alikes of the Chivas brand”.

Chivas lost a case in March of this year, when a Beijing court ruled that a Chinese businessman could produce clothing branded with the name Chivas, because he had registered the trademark prior to Chivas Brothers in 2009.