Honda won trademark suit in China

July 10(JST), Honda Motor Co. won major Chinese motorcycle maker Chongqing Lifan Industry Group Co. in Beijing district court.

Chinese firm’s trademark is “Hongda”.

The pronunciation of  “Hongda” is almost the same to “Honda”.

But Kanji character of Hongda is completely different.

So Chinese government committee had rejected Honda’s claim.

The court acknowledged that Hongda is confusing  with emphasizing the similarity of pronunciation.