Home -> Law Blog Directory -> International Law Blogs -> China Law Blog

International Law

: China Law Blog

Tort Liability For China Counterfeit Goods?

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

Blogger Ryan McLaughlin (and my firm's webmaster) recently posted on media coverage of the death of his beloved Golden Retriever, believed to have been caused by a package of Optima dog food. Mars makes Optima dog food, but it does not ship it or sell it in China. Mars does sell Optima to Taiwan, however, and it is not clear if the Optima dog food Ryan purchased in Suzhou, China, came from real Optima dog food sent to Taiwan (which may have been compromised by poor storage or age) or was counterfeit. So here's the question. Might it make sense to bring a claim against a US product manufacturer in a US court based on its failure to monitor its brand worldwide? Can one argue that Mars was negligent in not doing more to prevent its product from being sold in China or in preventing counterfeits from being sold? Has there ever been such a case? What do you think?

Full post as published by China Law Blog on January 19, 2009 (boomark / email).