The Tianjin High Court of China issued a decision that a local motorcycle maker must pay Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. 900,000 yuan (about 13,500,000 yen). This sum appears higher than that of any other sum awarded to date as compensation for a trademark infringement in the lawsuits which Japanese companies have filed against Chinese infringers.
Yamaha sued a medium-sized motorcycle manufacturer in Tianjin City, called Guangtian Jituan, including its four subsidiaries. These Chinese companies produced and distributed scooters and motorcycles that pirated the trademark "YAMAHA" and other trademarks that are all owned by Yamaha Motor Co. They had allegedly been annually producing 100,000 or more of such mis-branded scooters and motorcycles in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
In July 2000, Yamaha submitted evidence of the infringements of its own trademarks and demanded administrative disposition by the Government of Tianjin City for the forgeries. Further, it sued for damages of 30,000,000 yuan this May.
The court ordered Guangtian Jituan to stop producing and selling lines pirating the Yamaha trademarks and to publish an apology, in addition to paying compensation.
The amount of the compensation awarded in this case was really far less than Yamaha demanded, since it failed to gather hard evidence which proved the number of illegal products. However, this court decision, as a landmark case, could be very significant in that it has undoubtedly brought about a welcome step in crackdowns on possible future numerous counterfeits that may be made in China.
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