Chinese Chain Molly Tea Fined £1.1 Mln Over Louis Vuitton Logo
A major Chinese drink retailer must hand over 10.3 mln yuan (£1.1m) in compensation following a high-profile legal defeat against luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton. A judge determined that the Shenzhen-based enterprise, Molly Tea, unlawfully appropriated the French fashion house’s signature four-petal monogram for its own branding.
The ruling from a Suzhou court in Jiangsu province mandates that the beverage company must immediately drop the offending emblem, issue a formal public apology and financially compensate the designer label.
According to the state-owned outlet China Daily, the drinks firm had already faced significant hurdles with the China National Intellectual Property Administration. Authorities previously turned down multiple design applications from the company and its subsidiaries. Ultimately, officials only granted trademark approval for the written Chinese characters of the brand’s name.
A bitter online clash
The courtroom drama has triggered a massive cultural discussion across the Chinese internet. A hashtag tracking the dispute quickly amassed upwards of 400 mln views and tens of thousands of impassioned comments.
Many commentators rushed to support the homegrown brand by arguing that heritage motifs are universal. Some users even claimed that Western luxury conglomerates frequently borrow aesthetic concepts from ancient Chinese culture.
Defending the tea chain on the microblogging site Weibo, one supporter vowed to purchase a drink every day in solidarity.
«Give me a break. They’re just taking advantage of the fact that our ancestors didn’t file for patents,» the user wrote in Mandarin.
Another individual on the platform RedNote echoed this frustration by pointing out that simple geometric patterns belong to global history rather than a single corporate entity.
Conversely, a vocal contingent of internet users sided with the French brand and the rule of law.
Critics of the tea chain urged its defenders to brush up on their legal knowledge since Louis Vuitton’s longstanding trademark registration makes the infringement undeniable. These voices stressed that imitating established corporate identities is unacceptable in any commercial sector.
