In China, there is another kind of white rabbit, which is almost a household name.
Nowadays, Mickey Mouse, an animated star with a pair of ears, shoes and innocent humor, has already stepped off the screen and become a famous commercial brand. Those amusement parks all over the world and countless best-selling products named after Mickey Mouse and his companions are creating huge profits for the huge Disney Empire every day.
The commercial control of the lively and lovely chubby white rabbit is firmly in the hands of a China company. Shanghai Guanshengyuan Group, which is famous for producing "White Rabbit Butterfly", has excellently protected, developed and utilized the brand image of "White Rabbit", applied for the registration of the trademark of White Rabbit in more than 0/00 countries and regions around the world, successfully implemented the first step of "grabbing the beach" in the international market, and has been ambitiously building its own "White Rabbit Empire".
At that time, Mickey Mouse promoted the birth of the White Rabbit, and it was also the famous "Mickey Mouse Storm" that woke the White Rabbit from his dream. The Story of the White Rabbit by Guanshengyuan Company is a vivid course for a China enterprise to understand and learn advanced business strategies and move towards international integration in the painful market competition.
To tell the story of the white rabbit, we have to start with Mickey Mouse.
Before liberation, Shanghai had a famous ABC candy factory. Feng Boyong, the boss who is good at business, saw that Mickey Mouse cartoons were all the rage in Shanghai, especially among children, so he designed a Mickey Mouse set meal, and ABC Mickey Mouse toffee suddenly became the best-selling toffee in China. Boss Feng's idea of using cartoon characters to do business may be before Mickey Mouse's "biological father" Mr. Walter Disney. According to records, the first Disneyland was founded in 1955.
After liberation, ABC Candy Factory was a public-private joint venture, renamed as "Aimin Candy Factory" and later merged into Guan Sheng Garden. The main product is Mickey Mouse toffee. In the 1950s, he criticized the idea of worshipping foreign things and obsessing foreign things, and then "eliminating four evils" rose in the patriotic health movement. Everyone shouted at the mouse to cross the street, and the factory also worried about the image of "Mickey Mouse Butterfly". They thought of the rabbit, whose lively form and kind nature seemed to be a natural "positive image", so they asked Shanghai Art and Design Company to design a package with the white rabbit as the core. 1956, a new brand "white rabbit toffee" came out and was immediately favored by consumers. 1959, as a result of self-reliance, presented a gift to 10 National Day, and then immediately began to export. In the following ten years, "White Rabbit Butterfly" continuously improved its quality and packaging, formed a unique formula and a stable and quality-guaranteed technological process, and became a characteristic product of China. 1979 "White Rabbit" won the National Silver Award, and 1992 was named the only food brand among the fourteen famous trademarks in China.
But at that time, limited by the old planned economy concept, "White Rabbit" and its namesake "Mickey Mouse Milk Candy" never knew how to seek legal protection. Even when domestic and foreign manufacturers have begun to produce counterfeit products, "rabbits" and "wild rats" have mushroomed, impacting and competing for the market, and enterprises have never thought of registering their own trademarks. 1983, a small candy factory in Guangzhou, which can only produce hard candy, came to Guan Sheng Garden to learn from it. The old masters in Guan Sheng Garden taught them the technology of making toffee seriously. After the apprentice came back, he began to produce toffee, and borrowed a brand image of the master: 1 Mickey Mouse holds three foreign bubbles. Two years later, when Guanshengyuan thought of registering Mickey Mouse toffee, he unexpectedly received a rejection notice. It turned out that the "apprentice" in the south had registered the master's trademark first a few months ago.
Not long after, it was reported that Walter Disney Company of the United States bought the Mickey Mouse trademark of that small factory in Guangzhou for $40,000 in order to win the monopoly of Mickey Mouse image in China. Guanshengyuan lamented that others "it's not that children don't know the pain". It was only $40,000, which was only 100 RMB at the exchange rate at that time. However, from ABC Candy Factory to Guanshengyuan, half a century's hard work for this product was wasted overnight. There is no "mentoring relationship" between Walter Disney Company and Guanshengyuan. He is the justified "father" of Mickey Mouse, and he regained control in China through normal legal procedures. Guanshengyuan had to reluctantly give up what one favours, and eliminated the oldest well-known candy brand in China, which is on par with the "White Rabbit".
Later, Disney took the initiative to find Guanshengyuan, saying that Guanshengyuan was allowed to continue to "adopt" Mickey Mouse, but as a trademark license, the "biological father" required to enjoy 8% profit every year. The concept of "modern commercial software such as industrial property rights, brand awareness and corporate image" began to enter the mind of this China enterprise in the form of actual profit figures.
A "Mickey Mouse Storm" is like a heavy hammer, which wakes Guanshengyuan from a dream. Fortunately, a "white rabbit" was born in the "four evils" of that year. Thanks to the profound consideration of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce at that time, the "White Rabbit" trademark was fortunate to be registered as a national excellent product that won the quality award. Ran back to a "Mickey Mouse", but woke up the "White Rabbit".
In Guanshengyuan, the first consideration is to defend the brand of "White Rabbit". At that time, the counterfeit products of "White Rabbit Butterfly" were rampant, and "White Rabbit" was one of the most seriously affected brands in Shanghai. Counterfeit products are distributed in 17 provinces and cities, as well as the Philippines and Thailand abroad. In addition to direct counterfeiting, those "rabbit guerrillas" also use words and graphics identical or similar to registered trademarks as the names, packaging and decoration of their products to carry out "innuendo infringement".
In view of this situation, Guanshengyuan, who studied trademark tactics hard, came up with a brilliant idea to register the whole package of "White Rabbit Butterfly" as eight trademarks respectively, so that a piece of candy paper and any part have a legal status. At the same time, 10 approximate trademarks (including white rabbit, big gray rabbit, big black rabbit, big flower rabbit, small white rabbit, golden rabbit, silver rabbit, etc.) constitute a "three-dimensional defense system". Organized around the main trademark, the "White Rabbit" trademark became a "family trademark group". In view of the fact that packaging and decoration are not protected by trademarks, but they can apply for design patents, they have come up with a complementary system of trademark registration and patent application, which constitutes an open "defense zone" to prevent any "anti-counterfeiting guerrillas" from approaching the main trademark. This "three-dimensional defense system" has played a great role in "actual combat". Relying on the protection of trademark law, Guanshengyuan has found and negotiated more than 100 cases of counterfeiting and infringement against "White Rabbit" since 1983, and eliminated nearly 80 cases of infringement, successfully defending its famous brand.
When Guanshengyuan studied the science of "trademark", it was found that the main reason for losing in "Mickey Mouse War" was a feature of China trademark law: first apply for registered trademark, then use registered trademark. In other words, a registered trademark in China can be divorced from the actual existence of goods. As a result of this research, the "early registration" strategy, which is very important for the future development of the whole enterprise, was born.
They realized that "White Rabbit", a recognized trademark with high gold content, might be considered as "rabbit's paw" if it is only limited to candy and a certain variety of "toffee". After three times of careful planning by enterprise decision makers and consultants, Guanshengyuan began to register its own "White Rabbit" trademark in advance in all fields related to the development direction of the enterprise. Now there are not only industries such as food, clothing, furniture, bicycles, clocks and watches, but also services such as catering, communication, banking and insurance. , the white rabbit trademark has also gained a place.
At that time, Disney's monopoly on Mickey Mouse also taught the white rabbit to "grab the beach" abroad. Since the "Mickey Mouse Storm" occurred in 1985, although Guanshengyuan at that time did not have the right of self-export in foreign trade, they began to take out a large amount of foreign exchange to register the trademark "White Rabbit" overseas. First, it was in an area where Chinese people live in concentrated communities, and then it was put forward that "where there is a country on the map, the' White Rabbit' will jump there", and the trademark of "White Rabbit" was registered with all realistic and potential exporting countries and regions in advance to seek legal protection for "White Rabbit". Today, Guanshengyuan has obtained the registration certificate of "White Rabbit" in more than 20 member countries of Madrid Agreement on Industrial Intellectual Property Rights and more than 70 other countries and regions. Excellent trademark strategy makes Guanshengyuan have a strong brand awareness in domestic enterprises earlier, and it is this awareness that makes enterprise decision-makers consciously look at enterprise management with a long-term strategic vision. The bosses of Guanshengyuan found that in the thick pile of trademark materials, the territory of a future "White Rabbit Empire" has begun to take shape. At the same time, they also realized that the advance of trademark registration only gave the "little white rabbit" enough electricity, and the next step was to make the rabbit "bright" in China and even the whole world.
According to the changes of the times, they began to reshape rabbits. In the past, the "white rabbit" was just a rabbit squatting on a candy paper. In the era of planned economy, it never wanted to change its attitude. After some careful design, a new trademark of "Big White Rabbit" with jumping rabbit as the main body and big mushroom as the background was born. This famous rabbit packaging has not only aroused people's favor for China time-honored brands. Americans regard the lively and jumping rabbits on the canned toffee of China White Rabbit as a symbol of resurrection and an Easter mascot, and rush to buy them. Then, 20 kinds of cute cartoon rabbits were created, including singing, dancing, boating, fishing, driving motorcycles, hunting, archery and playing golf ... The single "White Rabbit" entered the serial. Finally, a brand-new concept began to become the decision of enterprises: the brand image of "White Rabbit" should be transformed into "White Rabbit Culture", so that "White Rabbit" can be integrated into all aspects of children's lives, become their inseparable friends and create "White Rabbit Children's Culture".
China's "re-entry into GATT" is just around the corner. It is the general trend for enterprises to operate in groups and connect with the international community, and no one can escape. The successful leap of "White Rabbit" has undoubtedly explored the most operational first step for state-owned enterprises to realize the transformation of business strategy and "seize the beach" in the international market. Today, when Shanghai Xiechang Sewing Machine Factory spent $200,000 on an expensive "trademark lawsuit" to get back a "butterfly" trademark from Indonesia, Guanshengyuan was fortunate that most of their trademark layouts were completed before the fierce competition for trademarks. All this undoubtedly made this enterprise spend the least cost when laying the foundation stone for the future "White Rabbit Empire".
Nowadays, the cute image of the white rabbit has aroused the "covet" of many internationally renowned enterprises. The world's largest food industry group, the American Cafton Food Company from Mickey Mouse's native country, has proposed to Guanshengyuan to buy China's "White Rabbit" trademark. However, the owner of the "White Rabbit" now knows very well that this lovely rabbit represents an "empire", a corporate brand and its cultural added value, a large amount of property with huge interest but not deposited in the bank, and a passport for the smooth operation of products in the market. In the final analysis, it will be the passport and new productivity for China enterprises to enter the 2 1 century. Even if the other side pays a high price of 1 100 million dollars, Guanshengyuan will not let this "white rabbit" born in China run away.
Director He of Hubei Jiaxin Trademark Office134760328 Trademark free inquiry QQ104960522.
The only designated trademark office in Wuhan is one of the earliest trademark offices in Wuhan.
One of the top ten most professional firms in Wuhan, director of China Trademark Association Central China Branch.
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