Lacoste settles dispute over crocodile logo with Hong Kong rival

Thursday, 30 October 2003

French sports shirt manufacturer has reached an interesting settlement with Chinese clothing rival, Crocodile Garments, over the use of the famous crocodile logo.
Lacoste used Crocodile Garments from 1980 as a distributor of its products in Hong Kong, allowing it to sell shirts with the crocodile facing the other way round. Lacoste also registered the crocodile trademark in China at the time. However, after some time Crocodile Garments also filed trademark applications in China, and this eventually resulted in a legal battle between the two.
A settlement now reached in a Beijing Court allows Crocodile Garments to continue selling shirts, but only by changing the crocodile logo, giving it a distinctive flick of the tail, and encircling the logo. The agreement takes effect after 2006. Crocodile Garments expressed satisfaction at the final resolution to a legal dispute that has dragged on since 1996. “We reached an agreement in a Beijing court today,” Crocodile Garments Executive Director Matthew Lam stated: “Lacoste will drop the infringement action against us”.

Source: Forbes.com