Chinese firm sues Qualcomm over trademark

US chip maker Qualcomm Inc has been sued in China for alleged trademark infringement, Xinhua News Agency reported over the weekend.

Shanghai-based semiconductor maker Gotop filed a lawsuit claiming that Qualcomm had been illegally using the Chinese characters Gaotong as its trademark in China since 1998.

Gotop said it registered the trademark back in 1992 and attempts by Qualcomm to apply for such a trademark have been unsuccessful up to now.

Gotop said Qualcomm, despite the US tradition of valuing intellectual property rights, did not respect the fact that the Chinese characters Gaotong had been used by a local company and chose to use the exact same Chinese characters.

Gotop is asking for compensation of 100 million yuan ($16.01 million), the report said.

Gotop said it had tried to sort out the trademark infringement as early as 2002, when the company sent a lawyer's letter to Qualcomm. Qualcomm reacted by trying to buy the Chinese characters for 50,000 yuan but was turned down by Gotop, according to Gotop.

The case was accepted by the Shanghai High People's Court, said Gotop in the report.