TWG tea shop may have to change its name after court decision in trademark case
IFC Mall tea shop may have to change its name after court decision in dispute with wholesaler
A luxury tea room at the upscale IFC Mall in Central may have to change its name after it lost a court appeal yesterday in a trademark dispute with a tea and coffee supplier.
The logo of Singapore-based TWG Tea Company and TWG Tea (HK) Company resembled the one used by Hong Kong's Tsit Wing Group, the Court of Appeal found. Both sides had also registered trademarks using the letters "TWG".
"From the viewpoint of an average customer, there is a high degree of similarity between the marks of [Tsit Wing] and the signs used by [TWG] at the tea salon," Court of Appeal vice-president Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon wrote in the judgment, released yesterday.
"There is also a high degree of similarity between the goods for which the marks are registered and the goods and services offered by [TWG] in using the signs."
Lam, along with Mr Justice Aarif Barma and Mr Justice Ian McWalters, upheld a lower court's order for TWG to change its business name in Hong Kong.
TWG Tea has room to pursue another appeal at the Court of Final Appeal. A spokesman said the company was consulting with its legal counsel and declined to comment further on the matter.
According to the judgment, Tsit Wing started out in Hong Kong in 1932, dealing in the wholesale supply of coffee and tea products.