British luxury car maker Land Rover is suing a top Chinese trademark watchdog over a trademark dispute with Chinese auto manufacturer Geely, according to a court statement released Friday. The lawsuit against the Trademark Appeal Board under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has been accepted by the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, the statement said.
Geely registered the luhu name in 1999, causing an uproar in the industry and confusion among consumers and the general public. Geely did not stop using the name, leading to discontent from the British marquee, who later ordered the government to prevent Geely from using the name.
In a perfect example of why romanization of Chinese can be ineffective, the name "Luhu" can stand for two very different things to Chinese, "Land Tiger" and "Road Tiger," as both "land" and "road" can be pronounced as "lu" but are written as two distinct Chinese characters. And for many years Chinese have called Land Rover or just Rover as Luhu, meaning Land Tiger for some people and Road Tiger for others.
Source: Xinhua
Source: Gasgoo
Latest news from China: