Japan's Toyota Motor has taken China's Geelysgroupsto court in Beijing, alleging that the Chinese firm infringed on its patented logo design.

　　Toyota is demanding 14 million yuan (US.7 million) compensation from the Chinese automaker. Geely's Meiri compact hatchback model, unveiled in 2000, uses a bullhead logo, which looks similar to Toyota's brand logo.

　　Toyota spokeswoman Yang Hongjian declined to comment on the lawsuit.

　　In a previous interview with Shanghai Daily, a spokesman for Geely, China's only privately owned carmaker, said that the lawsuit is the result of Geely's stunning sales growth after the company offered the Meiri model at about half the price of its foreign competitor.

　　In yesterday's court proceedings, representatives for Toyota presented more than 30 items of evidence, mainly targeting at Geely's Meiri logo said to be identical with its own. Toyota claimed this could be misleading to customers.

　　In its counter argument, Geely said its logo registration was legal and brushed aside concerns that customers may be confused by the logos and may end buying the wrong car.

　　Foreign firms have long complained of infringe-ments of technology, trade-marks and copyrights by Chinese companies, with a growing number of cases making their way to court-rooms around the country.

　　The action by Japan's largest automaker reflects a growing trend for foreign companies to take a more aggressive stance in cases where they believe their intellectual property rights have been violated.

　　According to Winston Wan, an analyst with Risk Consulting Co, technology patents, trademarks and other intellectual properties are not only a company's fortune, but also a significant strategy to protect its bene-fits and beat competitors.

　　"A number of domestic manufacturers, which depend heavily on copying technologies and designs due to a lack of research and development resources, will be squeezed out of the well-regulated market in the coming years," Wan said.