Facebook Wins Chinese Trademark Dispute Over 'face book' Beverages

[HardOCP News]

It looks as though you won't be able to get face book branded beverages in China any time soon. The Beijing Municipal High People's Court ruled that attempts to label certain foods and beverages with the "face book" name was an obvious act of copying Facebook's intellectual property.

Chinese people won't be able to quench their thirst with a refreshing "face book" beverage, after the U.S. social networking company won a rare trademark victory against a local firm in China. By contrast, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) last month lost its battle to prevent a domestic company from using the "iPhone" trademark on leather goods in China. China's intellectual property protections are often perceived as quite lax but they are steadily improving, lawyers say.

 

[DPI]

That is rare. Trademarks aren't even a thing in China.

 

[Inu]

Makes you wonder how many layers of corrupt government had to be paid off for this one.

 

[steakman1971]

Surprised - China seems lax on copyright laws. Just don't get into banana videos...

 

[-PK-]

They probably voted for it because they don't care about precedent rulings, and a non-infringing "face book" beverage sounds like someone is incapable of learning their own language.

 

[Xrave]

I'm more curious why Facebook even thought the time/money was worth it?

 

[pothb]

Maybe they think another company can point to it and say they didn't defend it there? Not sure if that would work, though.

 

[T_A]

Makes you wonder how many layers of corrupt government had to be paid off for this one.

This

 

[KazeoHin]

Is no one wondering who in god's name thought "Face Book" cola was a good idea!?

 

[Xrave]

Is no one wondering who in god's name thought "Face Book" cola was a good idea!?

It's a Chinese company using the US company name so that Chinese consumers think the product they're buying is actually quality controlled by a US company (better quality, no poisons, etc).