Under Armour wins year-long TM case in China
Clothing company Under Armour has won its trademark infringement case in China against Uncle Martian, winning approximately $300,000 in damages.
The dispute began in April 2016 when Uncle Martian, a Chinese clothing company, began selling athletic wear with logos that Under Armour claimed infringed its rights.
Under Armour filed a trademark infringement suit at the People’s Higher Court of Fujian Province two months later.
It claimed Uncle Martian had “blatantly” copied its logo, and sought a preliminary and permanent injunction and damages.
In November the same year, the court issued a preliminary injunction in Under Armour’s favour, banning Uncle Martian from using the logo.
The logo consists of two ‘U’ shaped designs interlinked, to create the Under Armour initials, and a red background.
The Uncle Martian logo also had a red background, with two ‘U’ shaped designs sitting on top of each other.
In a ruling in June this year, but which was only made public yesterday, August 3, the court ordered Uncle Martian to permanently stop using the contested trademarks, destroy all infringing products and pay approximately $300,000 in damages.
The company was also ordered to publish a statement to “eliminate the adverse effect of Uncle Martian’s infringement”.
Toke Vandervoort, deputy general counsel at Under Armour, said he was pleased with the decision as it recognised the company’s IP rights in the country.
Danny Awdeh partner at Under Armour’s representative law firm Finnegan, added that the case tells a “very positive story for trademark owners” in China.
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