BMW has won a court case in Shanghai against two Chinese companies that registered trademarks similar to that of the Munich-based automaker.
According to the Shanghai Daily, the two firms have been ordered to pay BMW a total of 3 million yuan (around R6-million).
The first company was registered in 2008 as “Deguo Baoma Group Holdings Limited”, which translates to “German BMW Group Holdings Limited”. It later bought and registered the logo “BMN”, using a design bearing similarities to the German brand’s famous roundel badge.
The second firm to be fined was fashion company Chuangjia, which used a logo similar to BMW’s on various of its products, including clothes and shoes.
According to the newspaper, the court ruled that the two companies infringed on BMW’s trademarks in China “by taking advantage of its reputation”.
Jaguar Land Rover earlier this year filed a lawsuit against a Chinese automaker for copying the design of one of its products,
Also read: 5 of the most blatant copycat cars out of China