"Wong Lo Kat" red tank dispute in essence: Who owns the brand who wins the market on the 15th, Jia Duo Bao and Guang Yao two "old family", against the well-known commodity specific packaging, decoration disputes initiated in the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court hearing Trial. Both parties filed a lawsuit request and ordered the other party to stop using red cans and stop production and sales of red canned herbal tea. In addition, Guangyao Group also proposed economic compensation of up to 150 million yuan.

The trial debate: Whose red can, who's "Wang Lao Ji"?

At 8:30 on the 15th, the gate of the Guangdong Provincial High Court was crowded with people who came to watch the case. Guangdong Jiaduobao Beverage & Food Co., Ltd. v. Guangzhou Wanglao Jida Health Industry Co., Ltd. arbitrarily used the disputed packaging and decoration of well-known products, and Guangyao Group Co., Ltd. v. Guangdong Jiaduobao Beverages and Foods Co., Ltd. arbitrarily used the disputed packaging and decoration of well-known products. Two cases will be heard in the Guangdong Higher Court.

At 9:00 pm, the scene was filled with the smell of gunpowder. The agent of Guangpharm Group controversially objected to the identity of Jiaduobao's attorney. After the verification of the identity, the litigants launched a series of swords on multiple disputes, so that the presiding judge had to remind the agents of both parties to try not to use offensive language. The focus of the dispute between the parties is as follows:

First, what are the famous products and their unique packaging?

Guangpharm believes that well-known commodities should be Wong Lo Kat herbal tea. There is a large amount of evidence to prove that Wong Lo Kat herbal tea is a well-known commodity. The unique packaging and decoration of Wong Lo Kat herbal tea is made up of the three elements of Wang Lao Ji as a core element. It is packaged and decorated with specific colors and patterns. The three elements are one and constitute all the requirements for unique packaging and decoration.

Jadobi believes that the well-known commodities are “red-canned herbal tea products produced by Jiaduobao Company using Wang Zebang's formula”.

The second is who owns the "red can" package?

Gadobao believes that other companies use green as the packaging for herbal tea products. Hong Dao Group pioneered the use of red as the main color of herbal tea packaging and decorating, and won the design patent for red jar herbal tea. Guanghua said that the subject matter of the case in the case decided that the red pot decoration was inseparable from Wong Lo Kat herbal tea. According to the Unfair Competition Law, well-known goods have unique decoration rights, which are legitimate operators of well-known goods and can be transferred between different legal operators with the goods.

Outside the courtroom: Business competition is becoming increasingly fierce. “Wang Laoji is renamed as JDB.” “The red tea herbal tea that leads the country’s sales is renamed JDB.” These familiar slogans have recently been banned by the Intermediate People’s Court of Guangzhou. Po used, but disappeared in the ears of consumers. However, the smoke of commercial war did not stop.

This dispute began in 1995. Hong Kong Hondo Group, the parent company of the JDB Group, signed an agreement with the GP Group to obtain the production and management rights of “Wang Lao Ji”. The deadline for the use right is May 20, 2010. After 2001, Chen Hongdao, chairman of Hongdao Group, which saw the booming development of the herbal tea market, signed two additional contracts to extend the authorization period with the GP Group.

Through the introduction of modern production equipment and management concepts, coupled with advanced marketing and branding tools, the “Wang Lao Ji Herbal Tea” under Jia Duobao’s main control has grown from less than RMB 200 million in sales in 2002 to more than RMB 20 billion in annual sales. The “herbal tea kingdom” whose market value of the trademark was assessed was worth more than 100 billion yuan. In a sense, “Red Wong Wang Lao Ji” leads Chinese herbal tea to become a leader in the beverage industry that competes with multinational giants such as Coca Cola.

On May 9, 2012, due to the detection of commercial bribery, the briber Chen Hongdao absconded and the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission ruled that the two Supplemental Agreements were invalid. Guangpharm Group officially reclaimed the previous authorization to Hongdao Group. The red canned and red bottled Wong Lo Kat herbal tea production and management rights, Hong Dao Group has no right to use the "Wang Lao Ji" trademark in any way.

However, the dispute between the two parties was not ended because the ownership of the trademark was settled. It was an unreliable one. It started again, and it was still hot in the formula of herbal tea and the appearance of the red cans, and even developed from “Wendou”. The competition in the sales market has turned increasingly fierce.

Controversial substance: Who owns the brand who wins the market Wu Changhai, chairman of the board of directors of Guangzhou Wanglao Jida Health Industry Co., Ltd., believes that: “Gaddabao investment has made a huge amount of economic returns. Any intellectual property rights can not be said who belongs to whom. Can't eat The parents' meal grew up and turned back to harm their parents'."

When talking about the "formulation dispute," Wu Changhai regretted: "Because at that time, intellectual property awareness was not strong, we disclosed the formula of Wang Laoji herbal tea so that our competitors could use it. At present, JDB has only returned the Wang Laoji trademark. However, the brand contains four elements, namely formula, trademark, goodwill and decoration, which have not been fully returned."

Experts believe that today's corporate competition has entered the brand game era. The disputes of “Wang Lao Ji” continued and it sounded the alarm for enterprises to manage their brands and protect intellectual property rights.

According to Hu Fu, a lawyer from Guangdong Mingjing Law Firm, the focus of the "Red Cans Dispute" is that the decoration and trademarks of well-known commodities can not be separated. The peculiarity of patents lies in the inability to infringe on the trademark rights of others. Currently Jiaduobao's appearance patent covers the name and registered trademark of Wang Lao Ji. Appearance patents cannot use registered trademarks.

"As a well-known commodity, packaging, logos, etc. are difficult to separate from the brand," said Wang Weihong, professor at the Center for Market and Enterprise Research at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. "The company's brand strategy awareness is very important. If JDB uses its marketing capabilities, , marketing capabilities, build their own brand earlier, may not be involved in disputes."