Facebook has won a trademark court case after a Beijing court ruled in favor of the social work against a Chinese food and drink company. The court ruled that the company had tried to copy a high-profile trademark. Like Google and Twitter the world's largest social network is banned in China, but the company has taken steps to access the market.
The Beijing court's statement was released on April 28, according to BBC. It stated that Zhongshan Pearl River Beverages should not have access to the "face book" trademark in the world's most populated country.
In 2011 the Chinese company first registered the name, according to CNN. A trademark regulatory body gave the snack company the legal rights to use the brand in 2014.
The ruling has resulted in Chinese local media to guess if Beijing will take a softer stance against the social giant.
Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg recently visited China. He met with China's propaganda chief Liu Yunshan and business tycoon Jack Ma.
Zuckerberg went for a jog on Beijing's heavy-polluted Tiananmen Square but critics argued that the Facebook CEO was using an advertising trick.
Western companies often have problems protecting their trademarks in China. The reason is that they have to prove that their brand names are well-known in the nation.
Last week Apple lost a trademark battle in China. It will allow companies that sell leather products such as phone cases, wallets, and handbags to keep using the name "IPHONE."
Apple had filed a trademark application for electronic products in 2002 but it was approved over a decade later in 2013.
Mark Armitage is a trademark lawyer at an intellectual property firm. He explains that in recent years China's attitude about intellectual property (IP) rights have changed.
Armitage explains that the case of "squatting" involves a Chinese company registering the name of a well-known Western business. This forces the company to rebrand their products, spend large amounts of money s to buy back the brand name from "trademark trolls," or take the issue to court.
He added that Facebook's case is interesting. The main reason is that the company is banned from doing business in China.
Here's a video on Facebook's ad sales in China: