A court in the Chinese capital, Beijing, has ruled in favour of Facebook in a case that it brought against a Chinese company that had registered ‘face book’ as a separate trademark. Photograph: Imaginechina/ While China has blocked Facebook, the company is operating a high-profile campaign to try to gain access to the vast market. The court ruling has prompted observers to question whether this may be working and whether the government’s stance is softening. Other high-profile companies have not been as fortunate, with Apple losing a similar case last week when it was ruled that a local leather goods company could continue to brand its goods with the name ‘IPHONE’.
A court in the Chinese capital, Beijing, has ruled in favour of Facebook in a case that it brought against a Chinese company that had registered ‘face book’ as a separate trademark. The court ruled that the Zhongshan Pearl River company, which registered the name in 2014, had “obvious intention to duplicate and copy from another high-profile trademark.” While China has blocked Facebook, the company is operating a high-profile campaign to try to gain access to the vast market. The court ruling has prompted observers to question whether this may be working and whether the government’s stance is softening. Other high-profile companies have not been as fortunate, with Apple losing a similar case last week when it was ruled that a local leather goods company could continue to brand its goods with the name ‘IPHONE’.