Restaurant chain must stop using trademark

The Merrylin chain restaurant has been ordered to stop using "Shanghai Famous Trademark" at its eateries or in ads after one of its outlets was discovered shorting diners on seafood in March, the city's market watchdog said yesterday.

The trademark expired when it was transferred from its original owner to Merrylin in May 2012, but Merrylin kept using it without reporting to authorities, according to the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

As of yesterday, all copper plaques with the trademark had been removed at 13 Merrylin outlets. But its Hongkou outlet was still using it on business cards and in ads. A staff member said they planned to reapply for the trademark. The Hongkou outlet was where a remote-control receiver inside a scale was used to inflate the weight of seafood. That outlet was fined and more than 100,000 yuan (US$16,129) in profit confiscated.