An ancient Greek god accidentally became the protagonist of Dongfeng Fengshen's "gamble".

Before obtaining the AEOLUS trademark, Dongfeng Fengshen could not wait to carry out a series of brand renewal and model upgrades. In Dongfeng Fengshen's vision, the AEOLUS trademark will give the Fengshen brand more sports attributes, thereby gaining terminal sales.

Reality jumped up, rounded his arms, and gave Dongfeng Fengshen a hard slap in the face.

Restarting foreign names after 30 years

Compared with other brands’ complete trademarks consisting of Chinese, English and graphics, Dongfeng Fengshen has been lacking an English name for the past 30 years.

At the Chongqing Auto Show on June 13, Dongfeng Fengshen released the new "Fengshen track logo" AEOLUS. The official interpretation is that AEOLUS means "controller of the wind" and is derived from the god of wind in ancient Greek mythology. It is also the English name of Dongfeng Fengshen. It represents the new platform, new technology and new quality of Dongfeng Fengshen, marking the entry of the Dongfeng Fengshen brand. A whole new stage.

Dongfeng Fengshen subsequently released Yixuan track version, Yixuan GS, Yixuan EV and AX7?PRO models, all with the words AEOLUS added below the "Shuangfeiyan" logo on the front of the car. On the official website of Dongfeng Fengshen, AEOLUS even occupies the upper left corner where the company's logo should be.

The secret war over trademarks remains unresolved

Embarrassingly, in the 30 years since Dongfeng Motor Group abandoned AEOLUS, this ancient Greek god has been registered by many companies in different trademark categories. carve up.

Among them, in 2006, Aeolus Tire Co., Ltd. (referred to as Aeolus Tire) started the registration of the AEOLUS trademark under the international classification of "12-Transportation Vehicles". In April 2009, the registration process was completed, and in Complete the renewal of the trademark before it expires in 2019.

Although Fengshen Tire’s previous registration of the AEOLUS trademark was limited to tires, the fact that “12-Transportation Vehicles” is in the same category as automobile products has caused huge obstacles to Dongfeng Fengshen’s restart of the AEOLUS logo.

On November 29, 2019, Dongfeng Motor Group submitted an application for registration of the AEOLUS trademark in two international categories: "12-Transportation" and "37-Building Repair", but in March 2020 and In April, both applications were rejected. In the following April and May, Dongfeng Motor Group once again submitted a trademark review application, hoping to legitimately obtain the authority to use the AEOLUS logo in vehicle production, repair and maintenance.

In June, when the ownership of the trademark had not yet been clarified, Dongfeng Fengshen "jumped in" at the Chongqing Auto Show to promote the AEOLUS? "Aeolus track logo" and added the word AEOLUS to the subsequently released vehicles. Whether various actions are suspected of infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of Fengshen Tire will be a potential legal issue.

Although there is no direct competition between the two companies, Fengshen Tire also launched a silent counterattack against Dongfeng Fengshen’s extensive use of the AEOLUS logo.

On August 7, Fengshen Tire submitted a graphic trademark registration application, and the category is still "12-Transportation Vehicles". To the naked eye, the design graphics of this trademark are almost identical to Dongfeng Fengshen’s “Shuangfeiyan” trademark.

Some professionals said that the possibility of Fengshen Tire obtaining the trademark is infinitely close to zero. Dongfeng Fengshen tried to register the AEOLUS trademark owned by Fengshen Tire, but the latter applied in reverse using the other party’s graphic trademark. Like showing a gesture of coming and going.

In addition to showing its attitude, Fengshen Tire is also improving the protection of the AEOLUS trademark. On October 27, it submitted its trademark registration application in 10 categories.

Ding Shaobin who paid the bill

Dongfeng Fengshen is not without a chance. On October 10, information from the Trademark Office of the State Intellectual Property Office showed that for the "12-Transportation" classification, the application number 42700990 After the trademark registration application is rejected for review, it will enter the stage of issuance of the actual adjudication document.

At this stage, the outside world cannot check whether the trademark has been registered through the public platform. Dongfeng Motor Group and the trademark registration agency will be the first to get the results of the decision.

If Dongfeng Motor Group obtains the AEOLUS trademark as expected, Dongfeng Fengshen will be able to legitimately retain the word AEOLUS on the body and increase the promotion of the brand's English logo. Once the ruling is made and Dongfeng Motor Group fails to obtain the AEOLUS trademark approval, Dongfeng Fengshen will be in an extremely embarrassing situation.

Not only does the official website need to be revised, but the early promotion of the AEOLUS "Aeolus Track Logo" is almost cancelled. The Yixuan track version, Yixuan GS, Yixuan EV and AX7PRO that have already been put on the market, It may be necessary to "rebuild" the car to remove the AEOLUS logo on the front of the car, otherwise it is very likely to face infringement lawsuits from Fengshen Tire or other companies.

It now appears that Dongfeng Fengshen’s “gamble” did not leave room for failure from the beginning.

At the end of March 2020, Ding Shaobin succeeded Zhang Zutong as the general manager of Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company. Judging from the timing of personnel changes, it is difficult to find out who took the initiative to restart AEOLUS and use it extensively. It may be Zhang Zutong's bold move before leaving office, it may be the new attitude of Ding Shaobin after taking office, and of course, it may be the reprimand of Fang Qiu from senior leaders. .

No matter what the past situation is, the final burden falls on Ding Shaobin's shoulders. It depends on whether AEOLUS, the ancient Greek god, shows up.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.