Chinese Court Holds Firm On Viagra Trademark Infringment

According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription may be required], Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court just upheld a Chinese lower court ruling and ordered two Chinese companies to cease selling knockoffs of the impotency drug Viagra and to compensate Pfizer for trademark infringement. 

The Intermediate People's Court ordered Beijing Health New Concept Pharmacy Company and Lianhuan Pharmaceutical Company to stop making their little blue pills and ordered Lianhuan to pay Pfizer 300,000 yuan ($38,000) in damages.  Pfizer commenced this lawsuit in September 2005.

A Pfizer spokesman stated Pfizer sees this decision as "a strong indication that the Chinese government is moving in the right direction in protecting intellectual-property rights for all innovators."

Earlier this year, the same court ruled in favor of Pfizer by upholding Pfizer's Viagra patent and overturning the 2004 decision by China's patent-review board that allowed local drug makers to sell generic versions of Viagra in China.

Though I have not read the intermediate court's decision, it appears it was simply upholding Pfizer's trademark blue pill look.  I often write about how despite China's bad rap on intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement (most of which is justified), its courts take trademarks very seriously and those who pursue infringement of their China registered trademarks nearly uniformly do well in China's courts. See "China's Trademark Laws -- Simple And Effective." 

This case is yet another example of a foreign company registering its trademark in China and then securing court assistance to protect it.  The hope is that as companies continue to win such cases in the courts, the counterfeiting going on outside the court will decline.