Weekly China Brand Protection News

October 31, 2024

“Crown Cookies in Chinese” wins a lawsuit, “Blue Can Cookies in Chinese” was found liable for false advertising and commercial defamation

On June 28, 2024, the Beijing Haidian District Court issued a first-instance judgment in an unfair competition case involving the plaintiffs Danish Speciality Foods CPHDK ApS (“Danish Company”) and Maida Food (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (“Maida”), and the defendants Kelsen Group A/S (“Kelsen”), Kjeldsens Limited (“Blue Can Hong Kong”), Blue Can (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd. (“Blue Can Shanghai”), and Shanghai Lizhi Industrial Co., Ltd. (“Lizhi”). The court ruled that all defendants must immediately cease their false advertising and commercial defamation activities. They are required to publish a statement on their official website and official Weibo for three consecutive days to eliminate the damage caused to the reputation of the plaintiffs’ “Crown Danish Cookies in Chinese” (Danisa Butter Cookies) products. Additionally, they must compensate the plaintiffs for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling CNY 550,000 (USD77,000).

The plaintiff, Danish Company, is the producer of Crown Danish Cookies, while Maida is the distributor of Crown Cookies in mainland China. Crown Cookies has led sales in its category in mainland China for many years and is considered a well-known product. The plaintiffs found that Kelsen, Blue Can Hong Kong, Blue Can Shanghai, and Lizhi used a lot of “factually incorrect” promotional information on the packaging of their Danish Blue Can Cookies (Kjeldsens Butter Cookies), as well as on their jointly operated official website, official Weibo, official WeChat account, Tmall, and JD official flagship stores, which could easily mislead consumers and constitute false advertising. Furthermore, the defendants made statements that defamed “Crown Danish Cookies,” harming the product’s reputation and commercial credibility, which amounted to commercial defamation.

Danisa Butter Cookies

Kjeldsens Butter Cookies

The first-instance court confirmed that expressions such as “the most advanced equipment, producing the highest quality products,” “the world’s largest modern cookie production line,” “the best choice for gifts,” “the perfect partner for gatherings,” “impressive,” “royal classic,” and “absolutely noble” used superlative and absolute promotional language, which could lead the public into mistakenly believing that the quality of Danish Blue Can Cookies is superior to other products, constituting false advertising. However, phrases like “the best choice for gifts” and “the perfect partner for gatherings” are common expressions in commercial advertising and do not constitute false advertising.

Regarding the statements “Danish Blue Can Cookies is the only high-quality Danish butter cookie brand authorized by the Danish royal family to use the Danish crown logo and royal certification on its packaging,” “Danish Blue Can Cookies is the only cookie brand honored with the royal designation,” and “the only cookie brand certified by the Danish royal family,” the facts established in this case reveal that there is another brand, BISCA, in the Chinese market that has also obtained royal certification from the Danish royal family. Therefore, the above statements constitute false information that does not align with objective facts, which could mislead the public into believing that the quality of Danish Blue Can Cookies is superior to other similar products, thus enhancing its competitive advantage and obtaining trade opportunities, damaging the business interests of the plaintiffs as direct competitors, constituting false advertising.

Regarding the statement “Since its inception, Danish Blue Can has accompanied generations of the Danish royal family,” it was noted that Danish Blue Can Cookies received the current Danish royal family’s royal certification in 2009. The evidence submitted by the three defendants only indicates that royal family members have tasted their products, awarded prizes, and visited the factory. Given the prominent promotion of the royal certification, the above statement could easily lead the public into mistakenly believing that Danish Blue Can Cookies have received royal certification from multiple generations of the Danish royal family, thus mistakenly believing that Danish Blue Can Cookies are of exceptional quality, harming the business interests of the plaintiffs as direct competitors, constituting false advertising.

Additionally, the contested content featured images comparing Blue Can Cookies with the plaintiffs’ Crown Cookies, using expressions like “under the guise of…” “taking advantage of the confusion” and “deceiving consumers,” which could easily mislead consumers into believing that the plaintiffs’ Crown Cookies intentionally use similar packaging to deceive consumers, thereby damaging the reputation of the plaintiffs’ products and constituting commercial defamation.

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