Two companies under the LG Group of the Republic of Korea (ROK) were brought to court yesterday by a Beijing-based lift company demanding that LG pay 100 million yuan (US$12 million) for trademark infringement.

No judgement was made yesterday by the Beijing Higher People's Court in its first hearing.

The Beijing Languang Lift Company also demanded that LG Electronics Inc and LG Industrial Systems Co Ltd stop using the trademark "LG" on its elevator and remove the signs on products already in use.

A trademark review board under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce gave a final administrative judgement in late 2000, ruling that LG Electronics Inc should withdraw the usage of the trademark "LG" and the relevant pattern on elevator and lift products.

The judgement was in response to the Beijing Languang Lift Company's appeal that the Korean firm's trademark letter section is the same as the Chinese company's previously registered trademark, also a capitalized LG, the abbreviation of the company name.

The decision was made according to the trademark law and its implementation rules, according to a document of the trademark review board.

"The ROK LG companies never used the 'LG' trademark on elevators after it was forbidden by the trademark review board," said Zou Weining, lawyer for LG Electronics Inc.

Zou also said the trademark usage on elevators was legal before 2000 because it was registered in 1997 at the trademark bureau under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

A certificate provided by the Sanya municipal notary office last year proves there are still eight lifts with "LG" trademarks by the ROK company in use in two hotels in Sanya in South China's Hainan Province, said Yu Yaqin, Languang's lawyer.

Yu also said the ROK company has made huge profits through the production of lifts using the "LG" trademark. It said it made more than US$10 million from 1995 to 1998. More recent data was not available, it said.

LG Electronics Inc claimed the plaintiff has not provided proof of its losses caused by the so-called trademark infringement.

Both sides maintain that the Korean firm intended to buy the trademark from the Languang company in 1996 for 100,000 yuan (US$12,100) but that the Chinese firm refused the deal.

"There are great differences between the trademark of the LG Company and the Languang Company in the arrangement of the letters and the design," Zou said.

The plaintiff and accused declined to accept court conciliation.