Food firm confident of winning appeal on trademark dispute in Germany

A famous Chinese beancurd brand, Wangzhihe, said on Tuesday the company was confident of winning an appeal filed by a German company in Germany over a trademark infringement dispute.

Wang Jiahuai, general manager of Beijing-based Wangzhihe Food Group, said the company had submitted documents against the appeal in early March to a high court in Munich and was awaiting the verdict.

Wangzhihe, which began in 1678 and featured Beijing-style pungent beancurd, noticed in July 2006 that its brand had been registered by OKAI on November 21, 2005. As it wanted to expand into the German market it filed a lawsuit against OKAI in a court in Munich in January 2007.

Germany's OKAI company lost the lawsuit in November last year. The local court ruled the OKAI company should stop using the Wangzhihe trademark logo in Germany and the brand OKAI registered there should be revoked.

"OKAI has not provided new evidence. We have new evidence, we will stay until the very end and we will win," Wang said.

Currently, Wangzhihe has completed trademark registration in more than 40 countries and regions.