Dahe Daily reporter Yu Yang Li Yukun intern Guo Lei
Jiaozuo is about 300 kilometers away from Xiaoyao Town, Xihua County, Zhoukou City. But the news about the "Hu Spicy Soup Lawsuit" only took a few seconds to spread from Jiaozuo to Xiaoyao Town.
In the past two days, the news that "dozens of peppery soup shops in Jiaozuo City" have been sued by the Hu Spicy Soup Association in Qiaoyao Town has aroused heated discussion and concern among netizens. The shopkeepers indicted believe that the HuoLi Soup Association in Runaway Town is forcing them to join the association and pay membership fees in disguise, which is suspected of "cutting leeks". And netizens also seem to be upset about the shops being sued: "It's just a breakfast restaurant, not to the step of court." ”
So why did the Runaway Pepper Soup Association sue these shopkeepers? Who are the shopkeepers who are being sued? What is the real purpose of safeguarding the trademark rights and interests of "Runaway Town" through the lawsuit? On November 19, a reporter from Dahe Daily rushed to Xihua County, Zhoukou City, to conduct an interview and investigation.
Hu Spicy Soup Shops in Many Places in Northern Henan were prosecuted
Recently, many shopkeepers who operate "Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup" in Jiaozuo City have successively received court summonses because they have used the three words "Xiaoyao Town" as a shop signboard without authorization, and are suspected of infringing the trademark rights of "Xiaoyao Town".
For the sudden appearance of the summons, the shopkeepers were very puzzled and angry. "We've been working for two or three years, and we've been working for seven or eight years, and no one has ever said anything about infringement, and we've been prosecuted all of a sudden, and everyone is confused." Many shopkeepers said.
At the same time, some shopkeepers who operated "Xiaoyao Town" Peppery Soup in Anyang and Hebi also encountered similar situations and received relevant summonses.
The shopkeepers approached the court for questioning and were told that pre-trial mediation was an option. The main solution to mediation is to join the Huoli Soup Association of Runaway Town and pay a certain membership fee. Otherwise, you will face a formal "court of justice".
"This is a disguised forced us to join the association, a naked 'cutting of leeks', which we cannot accept." Shopkeepers have said.
At present, many of the shopkeepers who have been sued have to remove the signboard of "Runaway Town", and some are reluctant to remove all of them, removing the partial head of these three words, for example, the word "Xiao" has removed the "go" side to avoid the risk of being sued for compensation.
Why did "Runaway Town" sue the owner of the peppery soup shop?
As for why the owner of the Peppery Soup Shop was prosecuted on a large scale this time, on November 19, the reporter of the Dahe News rushed to Xiaoyao Town, Xihua County, and found the secretary general of the Hu Spicy Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town and the relevant responsible person of the Party Committee and Government of Xiaoyao Town to investigate and understand.
To understand this problem, we must first find out what kind of association the Huo Spicy Soup Association of Happy Town is, and how the trademark of "Happy Town" came from.
According to the relevant registration information, the Huoli Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town was established in 2003, and its competent unit is the People's Government of Xiaoyao Town. In fact, as early as the beginning of its establishment, this association experienced a "storm of rights protection". At that time, the trademark of "Xiaoyao Town" was preemptively registered by a citizen of Zhengzhou City. According to the law, geographical names at or above the county level cannot be registered as trademarks, but township names can.
After discovering this situation, in order to protect the golden signboard of "Xiaoyao Town", the people's government of Xiaoyao Town and the Hu Spicy Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town did their best to reflect this matter to the relevant departments. In the end, after the Xiaoyao Town paid the other party 150,000 yuan under the multi-party rush, the "Xiaoyao Town" trademark belonged to Xiaoyao Town.
On November 19, Yao Huaidong, deputy secretary of the party committee of Xiaoyao Town, told dahe Bao Yu video reporter that the establishment of the Huoli Soup Association in Xiaoyao Town was to unify and standardize the management of the development of the Hu Spicy Soup industry in Xiaoyao Town and better maintain the reputation of Hu Spicy Soup in Xiaoyao Town. Since its establishment, the association has participated in many sessions of peppery soup competitions, and has placed advertising themes in related media, and is committed to carrying forward the brand of peppery soup in Runaway Town.
As for why they sued more than 100 Hu Spicy Soup Shop owners this time, Yao Huaidong said that in fact, as early as a few years ago, they found a problem: the Hu Spicy Soup Shops that hung the "Xiaoyao Town" signboard were uneven and lacked uniform technical standards. Moreover, a considerable number of peppery soup shops that hang the "Runaway Town" sign have no relationship with Runaway Town, the owner is not a Happy Man, and the soup is not a Happy Taste. In this context, as soon as possible to "remove the false and save the truth", unified standards for the technical standards of Hu Spicy Soup in Xiaoyao Town, have been put on the agenda.
In April this year, the People's Government of Xiaoyao Town and the Hu Spicy Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town conducted a field visit to the Hu Spicy Soup Shops in Jiaozuo, Hebi and Anyang in northern Henan, and found that there were more than 2,000 hanging "Xiaoyao Town" signs, of which more than 1,000 were run by shop owners from Xiaoyao Town or Xihua County, and nearly a thousand were not related to Xiaoyao Town for half a cent.
"What we sued this time is the Peppery Soup Shop, which has nothing to do with Runaway Town, and selected some shops that have been operating for a long time and whose taste is far from those of Runaway Town for prosecution." Wang Leihua, secretary general of the Hu Spicy Soup Association in Xiaoyao Town, said.
Response: Prosecution is not an end in itself, it is intended to regulate business
In response to netizens' questioning of the fact that the prosecution was to forcibly join the association, Wang Leihua, secretary general of the Hu Spicy Soup Association in Xiaoyao Town, responded that this does not exist. The purpose of the lawsuit is to better regulate the operation, and only through legal means to safeguard the trademark rights and interests of "Xiaoyao Town" can those Peppery Soup Shops with Xiaoyao Town obey the management. Of course, these shopkeepers can also choose not to use the trademark hanging "Runaway Town", and if they continue to use it, they must join the Getaway Town Peppery Soup Association. Make the peppery soup according to the standards of the production technique of the hospice soup in Runaway Town.
There are many ways to regulate business, why sue? Wang Leihua said that legal means are the most direct and effective, and other methods will not work, "no one will pay attention to us." He also said that he had previously sent lawyer letters to some shops hoping to remove the sign of "Runaway Town" on their own, but no one responded.
However, Yao Huaidong, deputy secretary of the party committee of Xiaoyao Town, and Wang Leihua, secretary general of the Huoli Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town, both admitted that their starting point was to maintain the better development of the Hu Spicy Soup Industry in Xiaoyao Town, but some of them were too hasty, which caused netizens to misunderstand and condemn. In this regard, they sincerely accept the opinions put forward by netizens, pay attention to the way in the next step of work, and advance steadily.
One fact is that although the lawsuit of "Runaway Town Peppery Soup" sounds very thunderous, so far, they have not really applied to the court to enforce a case.
On November 19, the reporter also met Li Ruihua, director of the Xihua County Peppery Soup Industry Development Center. According to reports, the center is the only county-level hu spicy soup industry development institution in the country. Li Ruihua said that they have also paid attention to relevant reports, and have now interviewed the person in charge of the Hu Spicy Soup Association in Xiaoyao Town, ordering them to rectify the inappropriate places and actively and steadily promote trademark rights protection and standardized development.
Many snacks are hung with place names, why is it only "Runaway Town" to defend its rights?
Netizens said that in fact, many snacks across the country have hung place name signboards. In the province, there are Kaifeng soup buns, Xiangxian braised noodles, Luoyang beef soup, etc., and there are also Shaxian snacks outside the province, fire palace stinky tofu, etc., but why only "Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup" has been pushed to the cusp.
In fact, the well-known "Texas Grilled Chicken" has triggered the country's first case of geographical name trademark competition. In addition, Qingdao's "Liuting Pig's Trotter" has also triggered a trademark lawsuit.
In this regard, Wang Zheng, a professional lawyer at a law firm in the province, pointed out that a considerable number of other snacks with geographical name signboards are mostly the meaning of geographical indications, which are the generic names of products and do not constitute trademark infringement. However, since "Runaway Town" has been registered as a trademark, it cannot be confused with the above-mentioned sign names and confuse the concept.
Source: Dahe News Editor: Liu Huijie