{"id":771,"date":"2026-07-06T12:06:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T07:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=771"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T07:06:41","slug":"backlash-after-china-bubble-tea-firm-ordered-to-pay-louis-vuitton-1-5m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=771","title":{"rendered":"Backlash after China bubble tea firm ordered to pay Louis Vuitton $1.5m"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Popular Chinese tea chain Molly Tea has been ordered to pay 10.3m yuan (\u00a31.1m; $1.5m) in damages after a court ruled that its logo infringed a Louis Vuitton trademark, fuelling an online debate over intellectual property protection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Chinese media reported last week that a court in the eastern Jiangsu province ruled that the Shenzhen-based tea company had copied Louis Vuitton&#8217;s iconic four-petal flower design.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The decision has divided the public online in China, with a hashtag linked to the case drawing more than 400 million views and tens of thousands of comments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The BBC has contacted Molly Tea and Louis Vuitton for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Thursday, a court in Suzhou, just east of Shanghai, ordered Molly Tea to stop using of the logo, issue a public apology and to pay damages to Louis Vuitton, according to Chinese state media China Daily.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The outlet also said that Molly Tea and its affiliated firms had applied for multiple trademarks that were rejected by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Only the trademark containing the Chinese characters for &#8220;Molly Tea&#8221; was successfully registered, China Daily reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Many Chinese social media users have defended the design of Molly Tea&#8217;s logo, noting how many designs used in Western luxury brands have been inspired by Chinese artefacts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">One commenter on the Weibo platform wrote in Mandarin that he will &#8220;drink a cup of Molly Tea daily&#8221; to show his support for the company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Give me a break. They&#8217;re just taking advantage of the fact that our ancestors didn&#8217;t file for patents,&#8221; the commenter wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">One user on RedNote, another Chinese social media platform, said: &#8220;Such basic geometric shapes have been used everywhere throughout history, not just China.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But some online supported the court&#8217;s verdict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A Weibo user said that those who back Molly Tea&#8217;s design should &#8220;study law first&#8221;, arguing that there is no dispute as Louis Vuitton had already registered the logo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Another said Louis Vuitton is justified in defending its intellectual property and that other brands do not have the right to imitate it, regardless of their industry.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"A brown Louis Vuitton handbag with the company's iconic graphics, including the four-petal flower monogram, printed across the leather\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"734\" height=\"413\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/8f7f3920d941389ad48488101221bb851aa03e689c74a40edd3a0cabfb568145\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w734_h413;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fbbc_us_articles_995%2Fba93a797cdec514a462ed8c81d7592fe\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><default:path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/default:svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>The four-petal flower symbol is one of Louis Vuitton&#8217;s trademark designs  [Louis Vuitton]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>Additional reporting by Koh Ewe<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Popular Chinese tea chain Molly Tea has been ordered to pay 10.3m yuan (\u00a31.1m; $1.5m) in damages after a court ruled that its logo infringed a Louis Vuitton trademark, fuelling an online debate over intellectual property protection. Chinese media reported last week that a court in the eastern Jiangsu province ruled that the Shenzhen-based tea&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/3915106f0eabdb7d1b2af7d196b69abd311f6ef26c0c38ffb1c233272a5c8493\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w916_h515;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fbbc_us_articles_995%2Feb702454a18e8b6a1137dd10dad6772f","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}