The case of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' violation of the trademark of Beijing Travelstar High-tech Company has ended with a compromise in which Hitachi GST agrees to abandon the use of Travelstar's trademark in mainland China in its hard disk products.
Liu Bo, a representative from the public relations department of Hitachi GST, has confirmed that they will stop using the Travelstar trademark on their hard disk products manufactured after December 1, 2006 in mainland China. Hitachi GST was accused for violating Travelstar's trademark early in 2006.
The compromise was reached with the help of China Electronic Chamber of Commerce. Wang Ning, vice chairman of the committee at CECC that oversaw the negotiations, says that the agreement has already become effective, but it is only limited to mainland China.
According to the agreement, Travelstar will keep the registration rights of its trademark in China, while Hitachi GST will promote its hard disk drives as Hitachi 2.5 Inch and Hitachi 1.8 inch, instead of using the Travelstar name. Both sides have made a plan for Hitachi GST to gradually stop using the Travelstar trademark all around China, and Hitachi GST can also continue selling its products produced before December 1, which still have the Travelstar trademark on them.
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 as a result of the strategic combination of IBM and Hitachi's storage technology businesses. It mainly deals in the manufacture and sale of hard disks of computers. Travelstar is a specialty company which develops and sells storage products.
