Distributor of counterfeit LEVI's ordered to pay 500,000 yuan

Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court recently entered the first-instance judgment against Zhong Xiaoying, ordering the distributor of counterfeit LEVI'S jeans to cease infringement, indemnify 500,000 yuan to the plaintiff, Levi Strauss and make public statement on designated media to mitigate ill effect.

The plaintiff, a US-based company engaging in manufacturing and selling apparels, has registered the trademark LEVI'S in China. The defendant had made multiple purchases of a bulk of jeans tagged with counterfeit trademarks inclusive of LEVI'S in Guangzhou since July 2004 and sold them in four storefronts inclusive of Qipulu Market. In June 2007, the plaintiff sued the defendant for trademark infringement at the No.2 Court.

The court finds the plaintiff is the holder of the registered trademark LEVI'S which is protected under the Chinese laws. As an apparel distributor, the defendant knowingly sold inferior quality jeans affixed with the registered trademark LEVI'S while unable to make showing of the legitimate purchase of the goods and their source. The exclusive right of the plaintiff's registered trademark is infringed. Injunction, monetary relief and mitigation of ill effects were accordingly ordered.