A Japanese restaurant operator yesterday claimed victory in a trademark lawsuit over the use of “Sanuki,” with the intellectual property court ruling that Namchow Chemical Industrial Co (南僑化工), a supplier of edible oils, detergents and frozen dough, did not hold exclusive rights over the brand name.
The response came after Namchow on Wednesday posted advertisements in major newspapers alleging that the verdict was unfair and that it was “politically motivated.”
The court ruling stated that Namchow did not have any claims over the trademark “Sanuki,” which refers to a region in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, that produces flour ideal for making Japanese wheat-flour noodles known as udon.
“The ruling means that from now on, other operators can also use the trademark Sanuki when selling and marketing their food services to the public, as this is no longer a trademark belonging to Namchow,” said Chung Wen-yueh (鍾文岳), an attorney at Formosa Transnational (萬國法律事務所), which represents Kabashima Shoji, operator of the Dosan Kanroku restaurant chain.
Claiming Sanuki as an exclusive trademark would be like claiming to own the trademark “Hsinchu,” banning other sellers from using a name that refers to a city in Taiwan, Chung said.
The controversy arose in November 2007, when Namchow sent an official warning to Donsan Kanroku, claiming the restaurant chain had infringed on its trademark because it was promoting its own “Sanuki udon” to diners.
After receiving the warning, the Japanese restaurant filed a complaint with the Ministry of Economic Affair’s Intellectual Property Office in April 2008, demanding -annulment of the trademark.
The office ruled in favor of the restaurant in December last year, but Namchow filed an appeal with the ministry’s petitions and appeals committee.
After the committee maintained the verdict, Namchow brought the case to the intellectual property court, which said early this month that Namchow had no exclusive right to the Sanuki trademark.
Namchow fought back with newspaper advertisements on Wednesday, saying that the intellectual property office had granted it the trademark Sanuki 13 years ago and that since then the company had put a great deal of effort into bringing the brand to global markets.
It said the verdict would “destroy the brand value of the Sanuki trademark and dissuade consumers and companies from investing in the brand through legal channels.”
In addition to frozen udon noodles, Namchow produces ice cream, juice concentrate and cookies via its subsidiaries, and it markets the products of Nabisco, Kellogg’s and Haagen-Dazs in Taiwan.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
RSS