New Balance has reportedly filed trademark infringement lawsuits against two Chinese companies, Niubanium Sportswear Company and Shanghai Tibo Business Consulting Company. It charges that Niubanium, based in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, has been making and selling counterfeit New Balance shoes in China since 2007, using the U.S. company's former Chinese brand name, which has been on the local market since 1995, and the letter N, registered in China in 1983. A separate complaint charges that Shanghai Tibo has been selling Niubanium's fake New Balance shoes. Niubanium claims that New Balance never registered its Chinese brand name, leaving it wide open for use without risk of infringement.

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