Chinese Olympic team kit sponsor Anta sued by small Hong Kong rival for allegedly copying design of its schoolbags
- The sportswear giant is accused by Grown Up, a much smaller Hong Kong firm, of copying the appearance of three of its MoonRock branded schoolbags
Mainland China’s biggest sportswear company, Anta Sports Products, is being sued for allegedly copying the designs of schoolbags made by a small firm in Hong Kong, according to court papers seen by the Post.
Anta, which provided clothing for the Chinese Olympic team in 2016, is facing three different lawsuits in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen brought by Grown Up Licenses (Asia), which sells bags under the MoonRock brand. Grown Up is seeking damages totalling 9 million yuan (US$1.34 million) for infringement of copyright covering the physical appearance of three of its distinctive red and blue schoolbags.
The case is rare in China, where normally small domestic companies are accused of copying products made by a much bigger brand leader.
The verdict is pending in the first suit against Anta, which was heard at the Shanghai No 3 Intermediate People’s Court on Monday. The other two will be heard in Guangzhou and Shenzhen on dates yet to be decided.
“Usually it is the small company copying the designs of a large firm. There are already some people who think we have copied the design from Anta, but we have all the evidence to prove that it is the other way round,” said Alvin Ip Tze-fai, chief executive of Grown Up.
“It is not just about money, it is more about our reputation. We are surprised to see a big company like Anta copying our design.”
A spokesman for Anta declined to comment, as the legal proceedings are under way.
Ip said after filing the lawsuits, Anta had removed the bags in question from its shelves and offered to buy some products from it as compensation.
Grown Up filed the lawsuits via its Shenzhen arm, Grown Up Licenses Management ( Shenzhen) Limited, in August and September last year.
Each case relates to one schoolbag design patent infringement by Anta and seeks compensation of 3 million yuan, the court document said.
Zhang Yi, the lawyer representing Grown Up, said another hearing will be held at the Shanghai court in several weeks’ time after testimony was heard on Monday.
Grown Up is a small company with about 30 staff in Hong Kong, which sold HK$28 million of goods in Hong Kong last year, and HK$20 million in mainland China. Anta, on the other hand, is the biggest mainland sportswear company and the 44th largest company listed in Hong Kong with market capitalisation of HK$143 billion (US$18 billion).
Anta, which sells its own and the Italian Fila brands, posted record profit for a fifth straight year last week, raking in 4.1 billion yuan.
The bags in question have a special design that earned recognition from the American Chiropractic Association because of its health benefits for school children’s backs.
Ip said his company obtained five patents in the mainland for the three school bags in 2017. Three relate to the appearance of the bags, while the other two cover their structure and utility features. The court cases against Anta are only related to the design patents covering the appearance.
The three school bags have been on sale in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan since June 2017 in shops, department stores and online at HK$680 in Hong Kong.
The MoonRock-branded schoolbags sport a price tag of between 700 yuan (US$104.5) and 800 yuan on the mainland, while the similar bags offered by Anta are sold at 200 to 300 yuan.
“It is obvious that Anta’s behaviour caused damage to Grown Up,” said Zhang. “My client is standing firm in seeking compensation through legal procedures.”
The court document said that in May last year, Ip found there were Anta schoolbags with an almost identical design to the MoonRock being sold in a department store. The Anta bags, however, were about half the price, at 329 yuan, and did not have the features that can improve the health of the carrier’s backbone.
After appointing mainland lawyers to investigate last year, Grown Up found about 100 Anta shops in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were selling the three schoolbags and therefore possibly infringing the copyrights of Grown Up. The alleged infringements may have cost Grown Up about 7.5 million yuan, it is claimed in the Shanghai court papers.
Ip said Anta had removed the bags in question from its shelves and offered to buy some products from it as compensation.
“But we are selling our products under our own brand names and they cannot be sold at Anta shops. As such, we can only take legal action to seek compensation,” Ip said.
China has stepped up its efforts to crack down on intellectual property violations, having become notorious as a producer of counterfeit goods.
