Nestle wins trademark suit over Dutch firm Dumex in Chinese court

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Nestle has won a trademark infringement suit in a Beijing court against its powdered milk competitor Royal Numico Dumex and received 200,000 (28,129 U.S. dollars) yuan in compensation.

Dutch firm Royal Numico Dumex was also ordered to stop using the trademark of a shield device on its powered milk products and stop selling infringing products in the Xizhimen branch of the Itoyokado Mall, according to a Beijing Municipal No.1 Intermediate People's Court ruling on Wednesday afternoon.

Swiss-based Nestle sued Royal Numico Dumex in September 2007 for trademark infringement and requested the defendant to immediately stop selling the infringing products and compensate Nestle 500,000 yuan.

Nestle alleged that it had already globally registered the figurative trademark of a shield device and the other trademark "Golden shield trademark in Chinese character" of Nestle had also been applied for registration with the Chinese trademark authority and this trademark had been widely used on its milk powder product.

Nestle found that, without its authorization, the defendant used a device which was similar to its registered figurative mark on the packages of a series of Royal Numico Dumex milk powder. In addition, the defendant also prominently used the trademark "golden shield in Chinese character" on its products, website and advertisement.

Royal Numico Dumex owns many famous brands including Cow & Gate, Nutrina and Bledina.

The two sides have not yet asked for appeal, according to the court.