The Hohhot Intermediate People's Court recently made a ruling in a trademark case, which involved long-standing catering business Maixiangcun in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The identically-named restaurant founded in 1933 has long used the Chinese mark Maixiangcun, which literally means wheat fragrance village, extensively in its business, without the assent by the trademark owner Jia Guolong, who also founded Xibei Restaurant, a fast food chain specializing in the cuisines of Northwest China, in 1988. The court ruled that Maixiangcun restaurant can continue to use the trademark within its "existing scope" due to its prior use, but ordered it to add another mark to distinguish itself from Xibei.

Source: China Daily