Manolo Blahnik luxury shoe brand wins trademark suit in China after two decades

Manolo Blahnik, a Spanish high-end shoe brand, was finally declared the winner in its trademark legal battle in China. It was revealed on Tuesday, July 19, that it can now legally use its own name in the business and its win also open the way for the company to expand in the country.

According to Reuters, the Manolo Blahnik luxury footwear brand was named after its founder, and it announced that the Supreme People’s Court of China issued the verdict last month after more than two decades of legal battle.

It was learned that the brand took a lot of actions against Fang Yuzhou, a Chinese businessman, to contest the legitimacy of trademarks he filed that are associated with the Manolo Blahnik brand name. The dispute started in 2000, and it was only finalized and judged in June this year.

"This is a meaningful victory for my uncle, our family and our team and I want to express gratitude to the Supreme People's Court of China for its thorough and careful consideration of our long-standing case," Kristina Blahnik, the company’s chief executive officer and niece of the founder, said in a statement.

The case between Manolo Blahnik and Fang arose because of the different intellectual property (IP) policies and restrictions in China. The former is a globally well-known brand, but the restrictions in the Chinese business system created a problem with the trademark.

It was explained that unlike in other countries, such as the United States, China does not require companies to prove it owns the trademark before it can be registered. Thus, despite being around since the 1970s, when Fang used the trademark after registration, it created a big problem for the Manolo Blahnik company.

In China, the policy practices the “first to file” policy, so when Fang claimed the name and became the first to file for its trademark in China in 1999, he legally owned the IP for the name. It was noted that things gradually change in the IP filing in the country, and some amendments were applied to fix the “bad faith” filings, and many international brands have won their cases in recent years, The Telegraph reported.

Manolo Blahnik’s trademark case in China is the latest successful legal battle related to business. More similar cases are expected to be solved under the new IP laws in China.