SHANGHAI, May 18 (Xinhua) -- A Shanghai coffee shop that was found to be infringing on the trademark of the U.S.-based Starbucks coffeehouse chain has finally changed its name after a four-year legal battle.
Staff at the newly-titled "Fangyun" cafe on the Nanjing Road refused to comment on the outcome on Friday, despite the fact that it is still listed in directory enquiries as "Xingbake", the Chinese term for Starbucks.
A statement from the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court said, "It is the first case in Shanghai in which a company was forced to change its name because of a trademark infringement."
The court had also ordered Fangyun to make a public apology and pay 500,000 yuan (62,500 US dollars) in damages.
Starbucks registered "Starbucks" as a trademark in China in 1996 and its Chinese translation "Xingbake" in December 1999. The Chinese Xingbake had its company name reserved in October 1999, and had been using the Xingbake name, and the English word "Starbuck" on cards, menus, signs and invoices since it started trading in March 2000.
Starbucks lodged its lawsuit against the Chinese company in December 2003.
In December 2005, the court ruled in Starbucks' favor and imposed the penalties on Shanghai Xingbake Coffee Shop Ltd., which appealed. At the end of 2006, the Shanghai High Court upheld the decision on infringement and unfair competition, and issued a final judgment in favor of Starbucks.
The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court took enforcement action, freezing the coffee shop's bank accounts, and the company made a public apology in the Shanghai-based newspaper "Xinmin Evening News" in April, and agreed to pay the compensation in installments.
Starbucks, with more than 200 outlets across the Chinese mainland, was "very satisfied" with the outcome, said Eden Woon, vice-president of Starbucks in China. Intellectual property rights protection was very important for China's economic development, and the outcome would encourage Chinese companies protect their own property rights.
