Crocodile's case lacks teeth, court rules

An attempt by Crocodile Garments to bite back at an injunction won by French fashion giant Lacoste over the use of an emblem failed yesterday after the Hong Kong firm was refused leave to go to the Court of Final Appeal.

Crocodile Garments Ltd sought to quash a December 1999 order by the Court of First Instance forcing it to withdraw all trademark applications on the mainland 'and elsewhere'. La Chemise Lacoste SA claimed the company had breached an agreement over the use of the crocodile logo.

In 1980, the French company granted Crocodile Garments exclusive rights to the logo for distribution of Lacoste goods in Hong Kong. In return, Lacoste held the rights to the crocodile emblem outside Hong Kong.

Lacoste claimed the firm breached that agreement when it registered a crocodile emblem 'confusingly similar' to Lacoste's in China, Britain and Denmark. Lacoste's version of the logo is a curled green crocodile with its head facing right, while Crocodile Garments' emblem faces left.

The 1999 court order forced Crocodile Garments to withdraw the trademark applications. An earlier attempt to contest the decision in the Court of Appeal also failed.

In the Court of Appeal yesterday, counsel for Crocodile Garments Robert Kotewall, SC, said his client was entitled to appeal against the decision in the Court of Final Appeal.