Chinese Supreme Court Refuses To Revoke Fake Trademarks of Crayon Shin-chan

by dtshyk
May 22, 2009 2:15 AM | 14 Comments

Futabasha, the publisher of "Crayon Shin-chan", lost a lawsuit over the trademark rights of Shin-chan, which was acquired by unrelated Chinese companies before Futabasha did. Chinese Supreme Court admitted the viciousness of the fake trademarks but rejected Futabasha's demand for revocation due to the prescription.

The case broke out in 2004. Futabasha was sued by Chinese companies for the trademark rights infringement when Futabasha started to sell Crayon Shin-chan goods in China.

In addition to the demand for revocation, Futabasha had sued back the Chinese companies for the copyright infringement. Futabasha lost the suit in the first and second trials but the Supreme Court remanded the case to Shanghai Hight Court.

Source: Natalie

14 Comments Recent Comments

fight the power i with CC would

May 24, 2009 3:38 AM by Corpse69

Made in China

May 23, 2009 7:11 PM by Takuya-kun

Konak said:
With that in mind, it seems pretty pointless for us to try to get the Chinese market; they're going to steal and profit off us in the end anyways.

think of it like there will always be some fansub groups that will keep fansubbing or pick-up fansubbing the rest if a series gets licensed in R1. some fansub groups will decide to drop, but there will always be someone else to pick it up. and with as many people as in China, there's just no end in sight.
(uh, hopefully that made sense ^^; )

May 23, 2009 3:09 AM by Ruby_Moon

Ruby_Moon said:
lol, if getting a copyright case thru in China would be that easy, there wouldn't be this much piracy. I think Futabasha just didn't stuff enough bribery to the judges as the other party XD

With that in mind, it seems pretty pointless for us to try to get the Chinese market; they're going to steal and profit off us in the end anyways.

May 22, 2009 11:04 PM by Konak

lol, if getting a copyright case thru in China would be that easy, there wouldn't be this much piracy. I think Futabasha just didn't stuff enough bribery to the judges as the other party XD

May 22, 2009 10:38 PM by Ruby_Moon

China is hopeless.

May 22, 2009 10:07 PM by Mouhappai

So, if Futabasha loses, Crayon Shin-chan is officially a Chinese anime despite original Japanese production?

That's awful. There's no other way to describe it.

May 22, 2009 10:04 PM by Konak

mr_utopia_man said:
That is so messed up. Chinese business is a joke when it comes to international legal standards, especially copyright infringement, and the Chinese Supreme Court is a joke when it comes to enforcing them. How does some secretly obtained trademark hold any sort of weight against the rightful owners?
One more reason I cannot respect China.

Nicely said

China is pretty injust.

May 22, 2009 7:46 PM by Tobi-sama

Japan > China

May 22, 2009 12:02 PM by iTom

mr_utopia_man said:
How does some secretly obtained trademark hold any sort of weight against the rightful owners?

That's very simple: A buyers' obligation to chek if something was "stolen" can only go sofar. They probably weren't required to check for ownership of the rights outside of China if they where aquiring the right for "just" China.

May 22, 2009 6:16 AM by rkrempel

Sued over their own product.

Nice.

May 22, 2009 6:04 AM by LEGENDOFTHEAEIOU

That is so messed up. Chinese business is a joke when it comes to international legal standards, especially copyright infringement, and the Chinese Supreme Court is a joke when it comes to enforcing them. How does some secretly obtained trademark hold any sort of weight against the rightful owners?
One more reason I cannot respect China.

May 22, 2009 5:50 AM by mr_utopia_man

sounds harsh dude

@source, oh if only i could read that. should find a way to translate it soon
unless i pull out one of my bad habits and get lazy.

May 22, 2009 2:31 AM by enkil

Well... that sucks for them..

May 22, 2009 2:29 AM by Ilyaoh