Chinese sportswear shop to damage for selling fake Puma clothing

CHENGDU, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- A southwest China court has ordered a local shop to pay German sportswear maker Puma 20,000 yuan (2,700 U.S. dollars) in damages for trademark infringement.

Puma Aktiengesellschaft Rudolf Dassler Sport filed a suit against a sportswear shop in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, in March this year, claiming the shop owner, surnamed Wu, infringed on its brand and the famous panther logo by selling T-shirts under the same brand.

The shop was not named in documents released by Chengdu Intermediate People's Court, which heard the T-shirts sold at the shop were printed with "PUMA" and the panther logo.

The T-shirts' tags were also printed with the same logo and the manufacturer's name, Dongguan Chuorong Clothing Co., Ltd. and the distributor's name, Beijing Yikanghe Trade Co., Ltd..

The German company registered the trademark in China in 1999, and has the exclusive trademark right of "PUMA" till Dec.1, 2008, and the panther logo till Oct. 29, 2011. It denied granting any other company rights to use its logo.

The German company said it would not appeal the sentence, but the Chinese shop owner would "think it over whether to appeal or not."

July this year, Puma won a similar lawsuit against a supermarket in Shanghai which sold fake Puma athletics shoes and eventually paid the German company 100,000 yuan (13,100 U.S. dollars) in damages.