Wants Lucky Film to recall product that could be confused with U.S. firm's best-selling line.
SHANGHAI -- Film giant Eastman Kodak is trying to compel its Chinese partner to recall a photographic paper which could be confused with the U.S. firm's best-selling product in the country, a company source said on Thursday.
Lucky Film Co. Ltd., China's biggest photo film manufacturer in which Kodak holds a 13 percent stake, has produced the paper since early 2004 and insists on keeping the product despite two years of pressure from the U.S. company.
The design on the back of a non-branded paper made by Lucky was too similar to the logo on Kodak's Royal Paper, its top-selling product in China, and confused Kodak studio owners into using Lucky's cheaper paper, the source said.
"The problem is very serious," the source said. "Consumers can't tell the difference between our paper and Lucky's. It's hurting distributors."
Many shop owners were getting higher margins by charging the same price for Lucky paper as for the more expensive Kodak (Charts) paper without informing consumers, the source said, adding that Kodak had no plans to take any legal measures against its Chinese partner and hoped to resolve the issue through negotiations.
"Kodak and Lucky are partners, so I don't want to give any comments," Kodak spokesman Tian Geng said.
Lucky Film officials were not available for comment on Thursday afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment