After 22 years of legal battle, British luxury footwear brand Manolo Blahnik won a trademark dispute and was able to sell shoes and accessories under its own brand in China, according to the Financial Times.
In China, for many years there has been a law under which the right to own a trademark is assigned to those who first applied for its registration. In this connection, many foreign brands are faced with the inability to sell shoes under their own brand due to local manufacturers producing plagiarism.
The owners of the Manolo Blahnik brand found themselves in the same situation, who for 22 years tried to sue the right to use their own trademark in the Chinese market from a Chinese citizen Fang Youzhou, who applied for registration of the Manolo Blahnik brand back in 1999, and registered it in 2000 .
It is noted that in 2019, changes were made to the legislation of the PRC in the field of trademark registration, the Supreme People's Court of the PRC canceled the registration of the Manolo Blahnik Fang Yuzhou trademark. After winning the court case, the British brand will be able to sell shoes and accessories under its own brand in China directly for the first time.
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