The administrative litigation case against the trademark “National Liquor Moutai” has finally come to an end. Kweichow Moutai Group issued a statement on the 13th, stating that it applied to withdraw the administrative litigation case against the “National Liquor Moutai” trademark and “will file a complaint with the National Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and various Relevant parties express their sincere apologies."

There is actually no suspense about Moutai's failure. The opinions of the National Trademark Review and Adjudication Board can be described as moderate: "National Liquor" carries the title of "the best domestic liquor" and "national-level liquor" Regarding the meaning of quality evaluation, the evidence on record submitted by Moutai Group cannot prove that "national liquor" has other stronger meanings. If the word becomes a component of Moutai Group's registered trademark and is used exclusively, it will easily have a negative impact on the order of fair competition in the market. Therefore, It was decided not to approve the registration.

The strange thing is that the Kweichow Moutai Group not only did not accept this result, but also took the National Trademark Commission to court. But your "national liquor" is self-proclaimed. The "national" trademark of the Trademark Commission is genuine. Although Moutai has the right to sue, and the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has filed a case in accordance with the law, everyone knows that Moutai cannot win this lawsuit. If businesses in the industry are rushing to register and use trademarks with the prefix Guo, what will happen if the market is full of "Guo X"?

We must also note that Maotai is quite persistent in this absurd appeal. Since 2001, Moutai has applied for the "National Liquor" trademark nine times, but none of them were successful. By July 2012, the national trademark department announced that the "National Liquor Moutai" trademark had passed the preliminary review. As a result, there was unanimous opposition from wine companies in the industry. Wuliangye, Fenjiu and other companies believed that the "National Liquor" trademark should not be registered exclusively by Moutai. At the end of 2016, the national trademark department decided not to register the "National Liquor Moutai" trademark. Moutai Group filed an application for review with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. On May 25 this year, the Trademark Committee once again decided not to approve the registration of this trademark. As a result, the lawsuit at the beginning of the article was revealed.

Why does Moutai continue to litigate? Persisting in such expansion? A discerning person will know at a glance that on the surface it is for trademark registration and litigation, but in reality it is marketing. Associating oneself with the "national liquor" has a value-added effect on the brand, but such marketing is dangerous. Yes, it is impossible for the state to endorse a company.

In fact, the advertising law has long banned the use of words such as "national wine", "most XX, national level, international level, world-class". All are prohibited by the advertising law. This is common sense in society, but in order to pursue profits, companies will inevitably have a fluke mentality and always want to kick the ball into the goal. Therefore, to prevent such farces from happening in turn, someone needs to do this. Pay a price, which includes two aspects. First, if you continue to request registration after being rejected, you will be charged additional administrative resource loss fees. Second, if you use an illegal trademark in advance without successfully registering it, you will be severely punished.

Source: Qianjiang Evening News