JDB loses herbal tea package patent case
Print Edition
JDB Group, a private herbal tea maker, lost its case in court yesterday and was ordered to pay 150 million yuan (US$24.2 million) compensation to Guangdong Pharmaceutical Group for infringing the latter’s package patent.
JDB will also have to pay around 260,000 yuan in legal fees and publish apologies in the public media.
JDB Group said in a statement on its official microblog account yesterday that the verdict by the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong Province has hurt its legitimate rights. It will appeal to the same court immediately for a second hearing. The Guangdong court found the herbal tea’s red can package is an inseparable part of Guangdong Pharmaceutical’s Wong Lo Kat trademark, and that the package design is an integral part of the trademark. It therefore ruled that Guangdong Pharmaceutical has the legitimate right and patent to use that package design.
It also ruled that JDB’s use of a red can package similar to that of Wong Lo Kat herbal tea products has caused confusion to consumers.
The court said that key elements in the JDB herbal tea package, including the Chinese characters, color and logo, were similar to those of Wong Lo Kat.
JDB, which reiterated that it created the red can package, was ordered last year to drop a controversial advertisement that claimed it was China’s leading herbal tea brand and also had to publish apologies on mainstream Chinese newspapers and websites.
The two herbal tea makers’ dispute dates back to 2012 after the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission ruled that the JDB Group could not use the Wong Lo Kat trademark.
Guangdong Pharmaceutical Group brought the case to the Guangdong Intermediate People’s Court in July 2012 and the court held a hearing in May 2013.
JDB Group, a unit of Hong Kong-based Hung To (Holdings) Co, has been producing the red-canned Wong Lo Kat herbal tea product since 1995.
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