Five years ago, China’s Zhongshan Pearl River Drinks filed trademark applications for “Face Book” branded beverages and snacks, hoping to ride the wave of popularity for the social media platform even though it’s banned in the country. Today, a court in Beijing handed the real Facebook a rare victory for this sort of trademark case, revoking this use of the famous brand.

Much like internet domain name squatters who try to predict names, brands, and words that other people will eventually be willing to pay top-dollar to acquire, China’s trademark laws favor the first person to file for a trademark, even if that mark is widely recognized around the world.

And so the beverage company’s application was approved in 2014, over the objection of Facebook. That meant the social media site had to make its case in court, demonstrating that the company is well known in China in spite of the ban. While people in China are not supposed to be able to access Facebook, businesses in the country do use the site to advertise elsewhere around the globe.

Facebook co-creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been making a push for China to relax its restrictions on his site and others, as the ban on Facebook currently means the company can’t reach many of the people in the world’s largest country.

Today’s win against “Face Book” marks a rare victory in this sort of trademark dispute. Most recently, Apple lost its argument to stop a Chinese manufacturer from producing leather goods branded with “iPhone.”

[via CNN]
[via Reuters]

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