In our impression, counterfeit products are synonymous with illegal, fake and low-quality products. However, if we check the China Trademark Network, we will find that many of these so-called copycat names have already been registered as trademarks. Although they were registered, their fates were different.

The target of ridicule among Chinese people is everywhere. No, in July this year, after Pinduoduo was listed on NASDAQ in the United States, some netizens joked:

Seeing these names , is it familiar? Behind every name is associated a very well-known brand.

If the text is not very vivid, you can look at a set of pictures like this:

There are countless "funny" but vivid brands like this, even the ones that have always been criticized for selling " Pinduoduo’s “copycat” products have also been “copycat” by others. Brands such as “Pin Shao Shao” mall and “Pin Xi Xi” have also passed their trademark registration applications.

Under the "Pin Shao Shao" trademark registration, there are 62 registration information, among which is the 35th class trademark known as the "Universal Trademark", which includes the advertising of product trademarks in the market , marketing, import and export agents, commercial activities, etc. In addition to being a major category that all e-commerce and e-sales platforms must register for, Category 35 is also a defensive method for many companies.

Even for the trademark "Pinduoduo", Pinduoduo's operating company, Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology Co., Ltd., has not registered all 45 categories. It can be seen that in terms of intellectual property protection, it is not the least bit different from Alibaba. Alibaba has registered all relatives of the Ali family, and many of them are registered in all categories.

Let’s take the copycat brands listed by the “naughty” netizen above as an example to see where these copycat brands belong.

When we see "Lao Yu Ma", the first brand we think of undoubtedly is "Lao Gan Ma".

Under the trademark "Lao Yu Ma", there are 8 registration application information, and Guiyang Nanming Lao Gan Ma Flavor Food Co., Ltd. has registered 7 of the trademark categories. And this company is the real "Lao Ganma" company. It can be seen that "Lao Yu Ma" may have originated from a joke, but in order to defend itself, the real brand had to register "Lao Yu Ma", a brand that looks extremely fake, but is actually "corrected".

PS: Trademarks also have industry attributes. According to this, trademarks are divided into 45 categories. Under each category, there are also several different industries. For example, "Lao Yu Ma" registered 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 of them, and these categories are related to food, beverages, preparations, etc. At the same time, it also registered universal trademark category 35 and "providing beverages" and transaction services” in Class 43.

Of course, when we searched for relevant information, we found that not all copycat brands can be registered as trademarks. The most typical example is Guangdong Li Yue.

"Yueliyue" and "Oreo" are very similar. Although during the inquiry, it was found that two companies had submitted trademark registration applications, both of them were rejected. Generally, when reviewing trademarks, staff will review text, graphics, letters and combinations separately, so such a rejection is reasonable.

In addition to "Yue Li Yue", "Qi Pi Hen" and "Da Bai Fu" also had this situation, and they were also rejected.

This category belongs to the sidelines and takes advantage of the "real body". For example, "Leibi" is similar to "Sprite".

The Coca-Cola Company registered the trademark "Leibi" in 1995, but only registered the 3202 similar group under Category 32, that is, non-alcoholic beverages.

However, Fossil Valley Co., Ltd. registered the "Leibi" trademark also under the 32nd category in July 2018 and passed the review. Fossil Valley registered similar groups 3201--3203 under category 32, namely "beer; ginger beer; juice; soda water; soft drink; energy drink; cola; beverage making ingredients; water (beverage); mineral water ( Beverages)" does not include "non-alcoholic beverages" registered by The Coca-Cola Company.

Although the names are the same, the categories of trademark registration are different, and they can still pass the review.

In addition to "Leibi", "Qi Pi Hen", "Kang Shuai Fu", etc. all fall into the same situation. They avoid categories such as "clothing" and "food" and register in other categories. below category.

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