Mo Li Nai Bai copied LV's Monogram onto its cups — a court ordered ¥10.3M in damages

Mo Li Nai Bai, a Chinese jasmine-milk-tea brand founded in 2021, built its 'Eastern modern' identity around a four-leaf flower pattern that Louis Vuitton's lawyers say is its Monogram. The design went onto store decor, packaging and cups across more than 1,800 stores.

Louis Vuitton sued the brand's operating company, Shenzhen Molichaba, over seven registered trademarks tied to the four-leaf Monogram. An aggravating fact: Mo Li Nai Bai's own similar trademark applications sat in 'rejected-review' or 'invalid' status, yet the design stayed in use at scale.

In a first-instance ruling by the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court, reported on 2 July 2026, the court ordered Mo Li Nai Bai to pay ¥10 million in economic loss plus ¥300,000 in costs — about ¥10.3 million in total. One franchise store was held jointly liable within ¥100,000.

The court also ordered it to stop the infringing use and publish an explanatory statement on six platforms — its website, Weibo, WeChat official account, mini-program, Xiaohongshu and Douyin. The brand's founder said it would appeal, so the ruling is not yet final; afterward some of its platform logos were quietly swapped for a coloured version.

Kept using the pattern after its own trademark filings were rejected, so the court awarded LV ¥10.3M and forced a redesign.

Staking the whole brand identity on a pattern that clearly belonged to Louis Vuitton made infringement the brand's founding bet

Using the mark across 1,800+ stores and hundreds of millions of cups made the scale large enough to draw a heavy award

Appealing the first-instance ruling left the brand under a trademark cloud it had knowingly built

Don't stake your brand on another label's signature pattern — Mo Li Nai Bai built its look on LV's Monogram, kept using it after its own filings were rejected, and a court handed LV about ¥10.3M.

In July 2026 the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court ordered Mo Li Nai Bai to pay Louis Vuitton ¥10 million plus ¥300,000 in costs — about ¥10.3 million total — and held one franchise store jointly liable within ¥100,000. The court found the four-leaf pattern infringed seven LV trademarks, cited the brand's own rejected or invalid trademark filings as evidence of bad faith, and ordered it to stop use and publish a statement on six platforms. The brand's founder said the company would appeal, leaving the first-instance ruling not yet final; some platform logos were quietly changed afterward.