Chinese Sanitary Ware Company ruled to compensate Grohe RMB 3.52 million

Recently the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang Province made the first instance judgment on the case in which German Grohe AG sued Yuyao Jitai Sanitary Ware Co. Ltd. for trademark infringement.

Yuyao Jitai Sanitary Ware Co. Ltd., a small processing enterprise, is engaged in processing sanitary ware for Chinese and foreign clients. Grohe AG is a world leading manufacturer of sanitary fittings, which registered the trademarks "GROHE" and "RECEXA" in China.

In early 2005, Grohe AG found that Jitai manufactured products which infringed Grohe's registered trademark. Grohe then complained to the Ningbo Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) and the Ningbo Customs. The Ningbo AIC and the Ningbo Customs seized the infringing goods. Jitai promised that, if it committed such infringement again in the future, it would compensate Grohe according to the price of Grohe's products and the number of the infringing goods. Thus Grohe did not institute a proceeding against Jitai for the infringement.

However, in 2007, Jitai was again found of manufacturing 2,904 sets of infringing sanitary wares that bore Grohe's registered trademark representation. Jitai sold out a thousand sets of the infringing goods; the other 1,904 sets of infringing goods were seized by the Ningbo AIC. Grohe requested Jitai to keep its promise and compensate RMB 4.58 million, but was refused by Jitai. Therefore, in March 2008, Grohe instituted a proceeding before the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court against Jitai.

The court held that, since the defendant made a promise after the previous infringement case, the defendant obviously violated the good faith doctrine by infringing the plaintiff's trademark for a second time and should bear the civil liabilities for its acts of infringement. Therefore, according to the price of Grohe's products during the infringement, the court ruled the defendant to compensate RMB 3.52 million to Grohe.