A father and son's feud over the right to use a trademark registered to their family business is serving as a lesson in trademark protection for the local industrial and commercial bureau, reports Yangcheng Evening News.

Mo, who lives in Leizhou Town, Leizhou, set up a moon cake business in 1995 with his two sons. Their moon cakes, sold under the brand name "Zhuliang", are quite popular with the locals.

But after Mo's elder son split the property with the father and brother in 1998, he started his own workshop producing "Zhuliang" moon cakes.

Mo then pre-empted his elder son by registering the "Zhuliang" trademark in 2001, but the elder son continued using the trademark anyway, arguing that he had contributed in building the brand and deserved a share. After Mo complained to the local industrial and commercial bureau, the elder son was ordered to stop the trademark infringement and pay a 500-yuan (US$60) fine.

But the business war did not end there. Mo's elder son has since successfully registered the trademark name "Duliang", which in the local dialect sounds exactly like "Zhuliang".

He consulted experts on this specially - China recognizes trademarks through putonghua pronunciation only, said Mo's elder son, so his product name is safe.

The father-son feud has been the talk of the town ever since, prompting a wave of enquiries on trademark registration at the local industrial and commercial bureau, the newspaper said.

Close