Entering the Asian market wasn’t without its challenges and despite Ferrero having much success taking over a niche in the market we can’t disregard the challenges they encountered in doing so. I will begin with the most publicised piece which was the trademark infringement which they fought for a number of years. The case concerned another chocolate and hazelnut wrapped confection called ‘Tresor Dore’ which also conveniently shared similar packaging to Ferrero Rocher. This image portrayed by the Chinese copy was similar to the image portrayed by Ferrero Rocher in Europe and Asia as it was given out by Chinese leadership to foreign dignitaries at gatherings. Ferrero therefore demanded for the firm to withdraw its product from supermarkets indefinitely. …show more content…
This however was eventually resolved and the ruling went in favour of Ferrero. The Competitor Montresor was forced to stop selling their product and were forced to pay out Rmb 700,000 (€50,000) to Ferrero in legal fees and damages (dailymail). However this was not the first time the firms had went to court, a local court in northern Tianjan had original ruled in favour of Montresor for having a better known name that Ferrero Rocher however this was subsequently resolved in the supreme court after an appeal case was launched to rectify to the problem. Ferrero Rocher vs Tresor Dore [1]
As depicted by this image the resemblance of the two products is uncanny. Regardless of this fact it took three years to resolve this case. This highlights the difficulties encountered in protecting against trademark infringement particularly in the Chinese market. This is not the first case of such infringement taking place In the Chinese market as this has been furthermore with Starbucks and McDonald’s who have also encountered and fought trademark infringement in the Asian