The Shanghai Higher People's Court has settled a dispute that challenged Lacostes ability to market their ubiquitous crocodile logo in China. According to the official Xinhua news agency, the Court overturned a lower court ruling that had held that Lacoste had infringed on the trademark rights of Singapore-based Crocodile International Pte Ltd.
Lacoste, who first registered its logo in France in 1933, has a crocodile that faces right. Crocodile International, whose trademark design was registered in 1951 in Singapore, has a crocodile that faces left. In 1995, Lacoste reportedly filed Crocodile International's trademark logo under its name in China to prevent its rival from using a similar crocodile emblem.
Crocodile International and Tan Hian Tsin, the creator of the Singapore crocodile logo, filed suit with the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate Court in 2002, asking for a symbolic compensation of $1 along with a public apology from Lacoste. That Court ruled in favor of the Singapore company in March 2003.
