A judge in the high court of the province echoed Wu. During an interview with the South China Post he said the very fact is, the two trademarks were similar and they made consumers confused. "Small enterprises are at a disadvantage in infringement lawsuits because the public believes famous companies won't infringe small ones," the judge explained.

"The significance of our win is far beyond a Chinese ant winning over an American elephant," Wu said. "It was a win of the rule of law."

"So far as I know, cases of this kind are very rare in the province," said the trial judge of Lanye's case. "In most cases, the plaintiffs are foreign companies," the judge added.

According to an investigation on those Zhejiang companies sued by foreign counterparts over intellectual property rights infringement, 124 companies across the province were sued in 159 cased from 2002 to 2006. Most of the plaintiffs were from developed countries like the United States and Germany. Thirty-five out of the 52 cases that were recorded in the courts were IPR infringement ones.

The survey said companies of developed countries impose trade barriers with the advantage of their intellectual property rights to undermine the international competitiveness of domestic enterprises.

However, most accused domestic companies give up when lawsuits are filed against them, as they are small enterprises or because they have no access to legal assistance. Only eight companies accused out of the 35 IPR cases appeared in the court with the help of lawyers.

Unlike the West, IPR has a short history in China, and so many Chinese are unfamiliar with the term. China adopted the Patent Law in 1985 while western countries have been engaged in IPR protection for hundreds of years.

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