Copycat pays up
Popular Xinjiang restaurant Yershari has been compensated 2.25 million yuan (US$334,692) by a copycat in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court said yesterday.
Yershari in 2013 paid 1.125 million yuan to a local consulting company for a marketing strategy and the project was assigned to a partner surnamed Qian.
In 2014, Yershari found several copycats, using similar decor and menus, in Xi’an and they were all run by a company in which Qian was an investor.
The court said the copycats used to be teppanyaki restaurants but business was not good.
Under the contract with the consultants, the company was bound to pay twice the fee it received as a fine if information was leaked.
The court decided the case in late July but only announced it’s verdict on Thursday.