Recently, Audi won a trademark lawsuit against Weilai Automobile (9866.HK/NIO.US) in Germany.

According to German media reports, the Munich District Court ruled in the first instance that the names of Weilai NIO ES6 and ES8 infringed Audi's trademark rights, because they may be mistaken for the electric models of Audi brands S6 and S8. Weilai is forbidden to use the model names of ES6 and ES8 to sell products in Germany.

= data picture According to the unanimous opinion of Judge vision china

, the model name of Weilai is actually different from that of Audi, but even so, the additional letter "e" is not enough to distinguish them, which is enough to make consumers think that they are "psychologically related, at least in pronunciation".

"There is a risk that consumers will regard (Weilai) ES6 as an electric version of (Audi) S6, and the two cars are from the same manufacturer," the judge said. "Therefore, there is a risk of confusion and empathy."

In this regard, Weilai responded to the Red Star Capital Bureau: "On January 19th, the Munich District Court of Germany made a preliminary judgment on the case of Audi suing Weilai for trademark infringement. We are very sorry about this judgment. We will resolutely appeal and safeguard our legitimate rights and interests by legal means. At present, Weilai's business in Europe is being carried out in an orderly manner. EL7 and ET5 will be delivered in the near future, and the construction of charging and replacing facilities is also accelerating. "

Qin Lihong, the co-founder of Weilai, also said in an interview with the media that this is only the first trial, not the final result, and the company will resolutely appeal and safeguard its legitimate rights and interests by legal means.

in may, 221, weilai released the Norwegian strategy, announcing its formal entry into the Norwegian market. On October 8, 222, following Norway, Weilai announced its entry into four European countries, namely Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, to further expand its business in the European market. From mid-October, 222, Weilai began to deliver ET7, ET5 and EL7 (domestic counterpart: ES7) in Germany and other markets.

On June 16th, 222, Audi filed a lawsuit against Weilai Automobile in Munich District Court, Germany, accusing it of infringing Audi's trademark rights. Audi claimed that Weilai decided to name its two models ES6 and ES8, which infringed the trademark rights of Audi's two models S6 and S8.

Red Star journalist Wu Danruo

Editor Yu Dongmei.