Guei Ting International Fashion Garment Ltd.

Case:

Key Words:

untrue advertisement, website, brand

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of September 7, 2006 (the 774th Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition (95) Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 095136

Industry:

Other Clothing Accessories Manufacturing (1239)

Relevant Laws:

Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. This case originated from a complaint filed by the public stating that: Guei Ting International Fashion Garment Ltd. (hereinafter called "Guei Ting"), knowing that its own brand "NATURALLY JOJO" was registered in Taiwan and was neither an American brand nor a trademark registered in the US, appended "NEW YORK" under its trademark published on store signs, advertisement, website, tags and magazines. Guei Ting also stated in its website that "(the company) introduced NATURALLY JOJO from the US to Taiwan in 1993," which misled the consumer into believing that "NATURALLY JOJO" was an American brand. Guei Ting may have violated Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law by making false and untrue representations regarding product quality both on the product and in the advertisement.
2. Findings of FTC after investigation: Guei Ting obtained the registered trademark of "Guei Ting NATURALLY JOJO" in Taiwan in August, 1994. Later on, Guei Ting separately obtained the registered trademark of "NATURALLY JOJO" in Taiwan, Canada, Japan, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Therefore, "NATURALLY JOJO" is surely a domestic brand owned by Guei Ting with approved registration. The trademark was not registered in the US or any other countries.
3. Grounds for disposition:
   1. Guei Ting stated in the company Chronology on the website of NATURALLY JOJO that "(the company) introduced NATURALLY JOJO from the US to Taiwan in 1993" to introduce the history of this brand. Based upon the wording, it should literally mean that Guei Ting introduced a foreign brand called "NATURALLY JOJO" to Taiwan in 1993. However, this is inconsistent with the actual fact learned by the FTC after investigation. Moreover, in the fashion industry, the origin of a brand is one of the important factors that would affect the consumer's decision to trade. Guei Ting's external representation made on its website caused the website viewers to wrongly believe that "NATURALLY JOJO" was an American brand and that the products they bought were imported from the US. Furthermore, Guei Ting appended "NEW YORK" to the trademark "NATURALLY JOJO," also misled the consumer. In conclusion, Grui Ting has violated Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law by making false, untrue and misleading representations.
   2. After considering the motivation, purpose, and expected improper benefit of the unlawful act of Guei Ting; the degree of the act's harm to market order; the duration of the act's harm to market order; benefits derived on account of the unlawful act; the scale, operating condition, sales and market position of the enterprise; whether or not the type of unlawful act involved in the violation has been corrected or warned by the Central Competent Authority; types and number of and intervals between past violations, and the punishment for such violations; remorse shown for the act and attitude of cooperation in the investigation; and other factors, the FTC ordered Guei Ting to immediately cease the unlawful act and imposed an administrative fine of NT$350,000 in accordance with the fore part of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law.

Appendix:
Guei Ting International Fashion Garment Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 22445132

Summarized by Chiu, Chia-Yun; Supervised by Lin, Gin-Lan