On November 16, a number of peppery soup merchants in Jiaozuo, Henan Province, reported that they had received court summonses for using "Xiaoyao Town", and then dozens of snack bars in Henan that sold "Tongguan" meat sandwich buns were sued in court. These merchants were told that they had to pay a fee to the association if they wanted to continue to use the trademark.
At present, the relevant local departments have stopped the rights protection actions of the "Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup Association" and the "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association". In the early morning of November 26, the State Intellectual Property Office responded to trademark infringement incidents such as "Xiaoyao Town" and "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun", and clearly pointed out that the relevant registrants did not have the right to collect franchise fees.
*November 16
Merchants in more than 50 Hu Spicy Soup Shops in Xiaoyao Town, Jiaozuo, Henan Province, reported that they suddenly received a court summons because of the use of "Xiaoyao Town" on the signboard, and these three words had been registered as trademarks by the "Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup Association" in Xihua County. The merchants were also told that the main solution was to join the Huoli Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town, and if they wanted to continue to use "Xiaoyao Town", they had to pay a membership fee of 1,000 yuan to the Hu Spicy Soup Association of Xiaoyao Town in Xihua County every year, otherwise they would need to compensate 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.
*November 21
According to media reports, merchants in dozens of snack bars in Henan were sued by the Shaanxi "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association" for selling meat sandwich steamed buns with the word "Tongguan", demanding compensation ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 yuan. If you need to continue to use the trademark "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun", you need to pay 99800 yuan. Most merchants believe that the "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association" is not defending rights but accumulating wealth.
*On the evening of November 21
The Hu Spicy Soup Industry Development Center in Xihua County, Henan Province, issued an information note that it has ordered the "Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup Association" to suspend the work it is currently carrying out, saying that "Hu Spicy Soup is not only from Xiaoyao Town, but also from the people of the whole country." ”
*November 22
The "Henan Daily" commentary article "The famous "Hu Spicy Soup in Xiaoyao Town" is the "True Runaway"" pointed out: The place where the soup sellers do not buy it is that the industry association that should maintain the brand image will talk about money as soon as it comes up, and such a practice cannot help but make people feel that there is a suspicion of "cutting leeks".
*November 24
The Beijing News published a commentary article entitled "How Can the Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association "Touch Porcelain to Safeguard Rights"" pointed out that this is because the heart of rights protection is too eager, or is it in the name of rights protection, extortion and extortion? I am afraid that we cannot simply stop the matter, and the relevant departments should carefully investigate the motives and interest chains behind them.
*November 25
The Beijing News reported that "authorizing two restaurant enterprises to join, asking for nearly 140,000 yuan, Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association was accused of eating ugly", after inquiry, it was found that the official WeChat public account of the "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun Association" was "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun", and the public number stated that "Xi'an Wansheng Catering Management Co., Ltd. and Tongguan County Shengtong Catering Management Co., Ltd. were authorized, and Tongguan Snack Entrepreneurship Skills Training was held, focusing on promoting Tongguan snacks and developing the Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun brand." The shareholders of the above-mentioned companies and affiliated companies have "Wang Huafeng", and the legal representative of the "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Association" is also named "Wang Huafeng".
The relevant person in charge of the State Intellectual Property Office said that it has paid attention to the trademark infringement incident and is studying the matter.
*On the evening of November 25th
On the evening of November 25, the Tongguan County Party Committee and County Government expressed its great importance to the Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bread Association's lawsuit against hundreds of snack bars across the country, temporarily suspended the meat sandwich steamed bun association's rights protection behavior, and set up a joint investigation team composed of the Commerce Bureau, the Market Supervision Administration, the Industrial and Information Technology Bureau and other departments to investigate the matter in depth.
*In the early morning of November 26th
The State Intellectual Property Office has made it clear that, legally speaking, "Xiaoyao Town" is an ordinary trademark, and its registrant cannot collect the so-called "membership fee" accordingly. "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun" is a geographical indication registered as a collective trademark, and its registrant has no right to license the use of the geographical indication collective trademark to merchants outside the specific area of Tongguan and collect a franchise fee. At the same time, it has no right to prohibit merchants in a specific area of Tongguan from properly using the geographical names in the collective trademarks of geographical indications.
*November 26
The Beijing News reporter logged on to the WeChat public account of the Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun", replied to the "join" pop-up "Join the authentic Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun, please see here" message, but click to enter the display "The content has been deleted by the publisher".
*Afternoon of November 26
According to Henan media reports, the Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association issued an apology letter on the matter of "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Trademark Rights Protection", apologized to the national Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Operators, and promised to immediately stop safeguarding rights.
Beijing News reporter Wang Ping
Video production by Gui Gui
Edited by Wang Lin Proofread by Chen Diyan
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