The intellectual property disputes between Geely and Toyota, Chery and GM, Lifan and Honda, Great Wall and Nissan made people feel that our national auto industry is facing severe challenges and pressure. Toyota sued Geely for trademark infringement and unfair competition and eventually settled with the victory of Zhejiang Geely Automobile Group. However, this case also reminded us how we will protect our intellectual property rights in the future, and how to publicize our brand features so that we will not harm our brand image for such things in the future.
Frequent IP disputes
At this time last year, the auto giants of annual output value of tens of billions of dollars - Japan Toyota Auto Co., Ltd. will have annual sales of less than 3 billion yuan in the name of "trademark infringement" and "unfair competition," China's private automotive companies - Zhejiang Geely Automobile Group sued the court, which seemed to suggest that in 2003 China's auto companies and national brands would not be able to escape the inconvenience caused by intellectual property rights after entering the WTO.
On August 6th this year, Japan’s Toyota filed a lawsuit against Zhejiang Geely and its sales agents for trademark infringement and unfair competition, which was heard in Beijing’s Second Intermediate People’s Court. Toyota alleged that Geely’s US-Japan auto trademark plagiarised the Toyota trademark and that the engine used by the US-Japan automobile was not the Toyota 8A engine, but it used the words “Toyota Power†in its slogan. To this end, Toyota claims 14.07 million yuan from Geely. In response, Geely argued that the US-Japan trademark's logo is a combination of the “beauty†Chinese pinyin initial “M†and the Chinese “Japanese†character visualization, compared with Toyota’s “Ngau Tau†trademark, whether it’s There is no similarity in design concept, graphic meaning or visual effect, and it does not constitute infringement. For the advertising of the engine, Geely proposed that although the US and Japan cars are not originally imported Toyota engines, they are the 8A engines produced by Tianjin Toyota. Advertising is not inappropriate. After both parties had a court debate, Toyota agreed to mediate under the auspices of the court and proposed that if Geely stopped using the "infringing trademark" and no longer "misled" the consumer's slogan, Toyota would no longer insist on the claim; but at this time Geely rejected the condition of this settlement. On November 24, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court made a first-instance verdict on the case: it dismissed all claims filed by Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan.
Although Toyota lost to Geely, but before the court formally sentenced, another case of suspected auto trademark infringement quietly launched between Honda and Lifan. On November 17 this year, also in Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, Japan’s Honda Technology Co., Ltd. took its three Chinese companies, Wuyang, Sundalu, and Jialing, accusing Chongqing Lifan Motorcycle Factory and Lifan Industrial Group’s production of motorcycles. The “HONGDA†logo infringes Honda’s “HONDA†trademark exclusive right, misleads consumers to make a choice, and claims more than 25 million yuan. In this regard, two Lifans did not appear in court and one refused to respond.
There are also so-called intellectual property rights disputes between GM and Chery, Nissan, and the Great Wall, which have been reported by the media but still have no lawsuits. On the issue of intellectual property rights, the automotive industry has only started this year. One side is the emerging automotive industry and a potential consumer country. The other is a traditional automotive industry. Both sides maintain hygiene, development, market and profits. Fight with all sorts of excuses.
Behind the intellectual property disputes is the conflict of commercial interests.
Relevant experts believe that in the context of intellectual property disputes and even litigation, it is actually the conflict of commercial interests and the robbing of market share.
Take Toyota's lawsuit against Geely as an example. Since the advent of Geely Automobile and the US-Japan trademark for six years, Japan’s Toyota has chosen to sue Geely for the time being. The engines of the Toyota Vios series and the Geely Mei-Japan series are Toyota 8A engines produced by Tianjin Toyota, and the Vios basic configuration is priced at 110,000 yuan, which is more than double the price of the US and Japan. In terms of cost performance, Geely has become a Toyota Vios. A big competitor.
Lin Lei, president of Xinhuaxin Consulting, which specializes in the automotive industry, once expressed his opinion that in 2003, the cases of foreign companies accusing the domestic automobile companies of infringement were relatively concentrated. There were mainly three reasons. First, as foreign auto companies increased their investment in China in 2003, the influence of foreign investment in the auto industry was on the rise. Therefore, they paid more attention to the promotion and protection of the brand; second, the high profits of the auto industry attracted a large number of The private capital has entered the auto industry. Private enterprises like Geely and Great Wall have no foreign companies that can have joint ventures or have their own brands and products. They can only rely on self-development to engage in autos, and their technical strength is very weak. It is inevitable that some imitations will be carried out in the initial stage. Another reason is that some domestic brands have developed very fast. For example, the monthly sales volume of Chery QQ is up to 8,000, and the price is very low. This brings about certain foreign joint ventures. pressure. The main purpose of foreign companies investigating and prosecuting domestic companies is not to win lawsuits, but to increase the visibility of their products and brands and gain a publicity effect. In the final analysis, it is still to protect their own interests.
From a deeper perspective, with the gradual loss of the advantages of the United States and Japan in some traditional manufacturing fields, intellectual property disputes have become a major non-trade measure for them to recover their markets in China. In particular, after China’s accession to the WTO, trade barriers such as foreign exchange, labor, and the investment environment are declining, and the power of technical barriers has become increasingly prominent. Therefore, foreign companies entering China have also begun to realize that they can succeed in the Chinese market. Ultimately depends on the protection of intellectual property.
China's auto vowed to develop its own in the end
According to Zhang Xukun, a professor at Zhejiang University’s School of Economics, Japan and South Korea’s companies have grown up to impact the existing international market pattern, and have experienced a lot of intellectual property disputes. Many well-known Japanese and Korean companies have encountered infringement lawsuits. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Japanese economy developed rapidly, the number of patents registered by U.S. companies was far less than now, and the intellectual property protection environment at that time was not so perfect. Therefore, the challenges facing Chinese companies today are more severe than those of Japanese companies at that time.
We have seen that after being sued by Toyota for court infringement of intellectual property rights, Glicia took this case as an opportunity to enhance the sense of independent innovation and intellectual property awareness of corporate employees. During the litigation process, Geely Holding Group Specially introduced color series cars, Huapu sedan and "Beauty Leopard" urban sports car with independent intellectual property rights. Geely indicated that Chinese auto companies, especially emerging private enterprises like Geely, still need to constantly improve their awareness of intellectual property rights, and have a deep understanding of the development of the automotive industry, and protect their intellectual property rights while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. Fully and rationally utilize the best concepts and technologies of the global automotive industry, and continuously strive to bring the Chinese auto industry to an international level.
Lin Xie, president of Xinhuaxin Consulting, also agreed with Geely’s approach. He said that in the face of the pressure from foreign companies, domestic automobile companies do not have to bear the burden, but should continue to adhere to the development of their own brands. Because China's auto market is expanding too fast, there are some markets that are empty and foreign joint ventures have not paid attention to it, which has left Chinese auto companies excellent opportunities for development. In addition, after accelerating the development and accumulating certain funds, domestic auto companies may wish to spend money to invite foreign manufacturers to help design and development, and intellectual property rights are completely owned by themselves, so that intellectual property disputes can be avoided.
Prof. Tao Xinliang of the Shanghai Institute of Intellectual Property also reminded me that when the “patent minefield†and “IP blockade line†of multinational corporations are ready for deployment in China, when they further develop the Chinese market, they are blocked or because “Made in China†products go international. When the market seriously damages its vested interests and market share, intellectual property disputes will easily occur. If China's enterprises are seriously lacking intellectual property resources as a game tool, and they lack relevant disputes and lawsuit response experience, the "war" of intellectual property rights will be even more explosive.
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