Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Company, one of China's largest restaurant franchisers, has carried out an anti-counterfeit campaign to protect its trademark.
Qi Xiaohui, director of the legal affairs department at Little Sheep, says that about 100 fake stores with the title of Little Sheep have appeared since the company's brand was introduced to the public in 1999, and Little Sheep is going to sue these false stores. Qi says the company will first focus on Hangzhou where there are four fake stores holding the title of Little Sheep.
Qi says the company only has one official directly-run restaurant in Hangzhou, which is located at No. 285, Fengqi Road. The remaining hotpot restaurants bearing the Little Sheep brand are all fake.
A representative from the directly-run store of Little Sheep in Hangzhou says that all the hotpot seasoning and mutton at their store are shipped directly from Inner Mongolia. He says the fake stores can't offer products of the same quality, which will badly affect the reputation of Little Sheep.
Other than the four restaurants in Hangzhou, whose signs have already been removed, two stores in Shanghai and ten in Nanjing have been accused of violating the company's trademarks. 16 other fake restaurants in Shenzhen have also been named.
Founded in 1999, Little Sheep now has had more than 700 chain restaurants across China.
