Trade company sued for exporting counterfeit Nike shoes

Recently Nike Inc. instituted a proceeding against a trade company in Tianjin which was seized of exporting counterfeit shoes and T-shirts at the Tianjin Customs. Nike requested that the defendant should eliminate the ill effects and make compensation. Under the mediation by the Tianjin 2nd Intermediate People's Court, the defendant promised that it would immediately stop the act of infringement and compensate RMB 300,000 to the plaintiff.

Nike Inc. registered the trademark "NIKE" with the Trademark Office on 1 March 2005, covering goods in class 25. On 26 January 2006, a trade company in Tianjin declared to the Tianjin Customs a batch of goods for export, in which the Customs found 44,000 pairs of shoes and 590 piece of T-shirts that bore the representation of "NIKE." Later, the Customs established that the goods were infringing and imposed an administrative punishment upon the infringer.

Nike Inc. believed that the acts of the infringer brought a loss to Nike and have an ill effect upon its good reputation. Therefore, Nike Inc. requested the court to order that the trade company immediately stop the infringement upon its registered word mark "NIKE" and figurative mark, publish an apology in China Business Herald to eliminate the ill effects, and compensate RMB 500,000.

Under the mediation by the court, the plaintiff and the defendant reached an agreement. According to the agreement, the defendant admitted the act of infringement, promised to stop the act of trademark infringement immediately, and would compensate RMB 300,000 to Nike Inc. before 1 February 2008.