Coca-Cola Lost a Copyright Lawsuit

In December 2004, a Beijing court made a decision on a copyright dispute between The Coca-Cola Company and Guangdong Apollo Group, a Chinese beverage company, in favor of the Chinese company.

The dispute arose in 1999 when Coca-Cola launched a television commercial for its beverage Spirit. Apollo found that the song used in this commercial strikingly similar to its commercial song "When the Sun Rises", for which a copyright registration had been obtained. Apollo approached Coca-Cola requesting to stop using the song but failed. Apollo initiated legal proceedings in the Beijing High People's Court in April 2000 against Coca-Cola for copyright infringement, claiming damages of RMB 30 million (US$ 3. 62 million).

During trial, an expert panel from Copyright Society of China was invited to provide expert opinion on the similarity of the two songs. Upon establishment of infringement, Coca-Cola was ordered to stop using the song, make a public apology to the plaintiff in a newspaper and pay damages of RMB 445,000 (US$ 53,874) to the plaintiff.

Neither of the two parties appealed.