Photo/Shetuwang

Dec. 18 (NBD) -- Danish jewelry manufacturer and retailer Pandora A/S has filed a lawsuit against a Shenzhen, China-based import and export company called PanDuoLa, the owner of the "PanDuoLa (the Chinese translation of Pandora)" trademark, over the infringement of its trademark rights. 

The case is set to be heard at Futian District People's Court in south China's Shenzhen on December 27, 2018. 

NBD tried to reach out to Pandora for comments, but no feedback had been received after contacting the customer service center of the company's online store. 

A person-in-charge for legal affairs at PanDuoLa told NBD the Chinese-language trademark was legally registered, and the company is ahead of Pandora in terms of the use of the involved trademark. 

According to PanDuoLa, the company began to use "PanDuoLa" as a trademark as early as 2002, and its application for the registration of the trademark was approved on January 14, 2007. 

From 2007 to 2008, Pandora contacted PanDuoLa twice, in hopes of buying the latter's "PanDuoLa" trademark under Class 35, which includes services for advertising, business management, administration, and office functions, with the price offered rising from the original 50,000 yuan (7,261.7 U.S. dollars) to 200,000 yuan (29,047.0 U.S. dollars) and eventually to 500,000 yuan (72,617.4 U.S. dollars), the person said. 

Pandora's determination to get the Chinese-language trademark under Class 35 might be related to its plan to expand the presence in China. 

According to the jewelry maker's interim report for the third quarter of this year, it registered a year-over-year increase of 28 percent in revenue in China in local currency. This compared to a fall of 10 percent in Italy, 12 percent in the U.S., 14 percent in Germany, 16 percent in Australia, and 19 percent in the UK. 

The company expects to add around net 250 concept stores during 2018 of which roughly 50 percent are expected to be opened in EMEA, 25 percent in Americas and 25 percent in Asia Pacific, says the report. 

In the annual report for 2017, Pandora said China remains one of its key markets and it expects to continue the growth in the country at a fast but controlled pace.

Last year, Pandora added net 308 new concept stores, mainly driven by store openings in China, Italy, the U.S., France and Latin America. In China, it opened 58 new concept stores and expanded into 14 new cities. In total, it had 155 concept stores in the country by the end of 2017. 

Buoyed by new store openings, the company's revenue from China reached DKK 1.592 billion (243.0 million U.S. dollars) in 2017, an increase of 82 percent in local currency.

It is believed winning the "PanDuoLa" trademark under Class 35 could help Pandora easily extend its reach further to third- and fourth-tier Chinese cities through the franchising model, as the lack of a Chinese-language logo could be a barrier in brand promotion. 

According to the above-mentioned person with PanDuoLa, the company is allowed to use the Chinese-language trademark by 2027.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn