Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Supreme People's Court Awards Yamaha Highest Damages in Piracy Case

雅马哈

Shu-Ching Jean Chen wrote for Forbes the article 'Yamaha Copycat Crashes in Court'.

"The Chinese company, Zhejiang Huatian, registered a shell company in Japan’s remote Ishikawa prefecture in 2000 under the same three characters used by Yamaha to render its name in Chinese. This Japanese shell company then signed a licensing agreement with Zhejiang Huatian, allowing it to market its scooters in China under that name. Zhejiang Huatian went a step further by printing Yamaha’s name in English letters on its scooters. The Supreme People's Court awarded Yamaha the highest-ever damages for a piracy case in China involving a foreign investor, 8.3 million yuan ($1.1 million)."

Two local distributors, Taizhou Jiaji Motorcycle Distribution and Taizhou Huatian Motorcycle Distribution, were also found liable for their participation in the scheme.

Read Chen's article here.

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