The Financial Times leads this morning with Starbucks’s victory in a landmark lawsuit in China against a local rival that had adopted its Chinese name and a similar logo. The Shanghai court ordered the Chinese company to stop using its name, pay a fine, and issue a public apology. Starbucks already has 140 outposts in China. In 2003 the manager of the Chinese chain said it was “just a coincidence” that its name and logo were so similar to Starbucks’s.

The news should encourage other foreign companies looking to protect their intellectual property in China.

This all brings to mind the Eddie Murphy 1988 comedy, Coming To America, in which Murphy, playing an African prince who comes here to find a wife and takes a job at the hamburger joint McDowell’s. Proprietor Cleo McDowell, in what was one of the movie’s best lines, says:

“Look…me and the McDonald’s people got this little misunderstanding. See, they’re McDonald’s…I’m McDowell’s. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.”

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Follow-up story:

Starbucks loses trademark dispute with Korean firm

Starbucks claimed that Elpreya’s use of the brand “Starpreya” is an attempt to free ride the fame of Starbucks and cause Korean consumers to confuse the product with its own corporate and brand name. A Korean court disagreed. (Click on the image to compare logos.) (Korea Times)