A Chinese court has ordered Tesco to pay Dunhill RMB50000 for selling counterfeit merchandise.

In August 2005, Dunhill found that Tesco was selling belts with a Dunhill trademark which it registered in China in June 1997. Believing that Tesco had infringed on its rights by doing so, Dunhill filed a lawsuit against Tesco, asking it to stop selling the goods, issue an apology and pay more than RMB100,000 for its losses.

However, Tesco argued that it never sold goods with the Dunhill trademark and instead it was Dunhill that intentionally lured its staff to issue an invoice with the goods titled as "Dunhill". In addition, the belt was sold by a dealer who rented a counter at Tesco and not by Tesco itself.

After checking the evidence, the court said Tesco sold the fake Dunhill goods and should take some responsibilities for this. The court ordered Tesco to pay RMB50000 to cover Dunhill's losses.