Through the routines of wearing foreign vests and big brands, the products from small workshops have been transformed, and their value can be comparable to top domestic goods and foreign big brands. Driven by the huge interests of the "beauty economy", more and more brands in the beauty industry are caught in the "trademark battle".
Recently, Huaxizi, Perfect Diary and many other domestic beauty brands have opened the road to cracking down on counterfeiting, and under the impetus of the huge interests of medical equipment, there is also a dispute between "true and false Li Kui" in the field of medical aesthetics.
The dispute between the "true and false Li Kui" of the Dongguo Water Light Needle
Last August, a trademark battle between the true and false "Philoga" exploded into public view. Some domestic brands choose to preemptively register international well-known brand trademarks and choose to sell domestic "shanzhai" water and light needle products to seize the market.
Coincidentally, a similar trademark dispute has recently appeared on the "Dongguo Water Light Needle".
In recent years, Dongkook has swept the entire medical beauty circle and become the first choice for many beauty seekers to maintain the basic maintenance of the face.
But what many people did not expect is that the "Dongkook" injected into their skin is not Dongguo Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. from South Korea, but the domestic "Dongguo Shuiguang", and has always been the industry sales champion.
According to industry insiders, "Dongkook" is the name of Dongguo Pharmaceutical Company, one of the three major pharmaceutical groups in South Korea, which has a worldwide reputation and is widely recognized for its clinical effect.
The main body behind the domestic "Dongguo Shuiguang", Beijing Antu Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Antu"), was established on October 23, 2018, and its business scope includes technology development, technical consulting, technical services, cosmetics, medical devices (only Class I), etc.
According to public information, on April 13, 2020, Beijing Antu acquired the trademark "Dongkook" from Hunan Yaomei Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
In July 2021, after trial, the State Intellectual Property Office found that the "Dongkook" trademark under Beijing Antu was ruled invalid due to a number of deliberate acts of preemptively registering trademarks similar to or identical to other people's brands, which clearly exceeded the normal production and operation needs.
On August 14, 2021, the Shandong Heze Food and Drug Administration went to the old office building in the courtyard of a company in Dangji Town, Chengwu County, Heze City, Shandong Province, after being reported by the masses, and found that Beijing Antu Biotechnology Co., Ltd., which was registered there, "did not check this factory", and the landlord also said that he had never heard of the company.
Baidu screenshot.
Recently, the "Dongkook" trademark under Beijing Antu was ruled invalid by the State Intellectual Property Office because it was similar to a Korean brand and consumers were likely to cause confusion.
The gross profit margin of the water light needle is comparable to that of Moutai
In this regard, Sun Zhongsheng, chief physician of the Plastic Surgery Department of the Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, said that like Philoga Water Light in France and Dongguo Water Light in South Korea, they are all medical aesthetic products with good clinical effects and hot sales in the market.
"The reason for the emergence of trademark squatting is mainly that some medical aesthetic institutions aim at the opportunity of foreign brands that have not yet officially entered the Chinese market, seize the brand market in advance, and play the price difference in the profit-seeking behavior, coupled with the low cost of violating the law and the amazing potential profits, it is commonplace to have famous brands in the commercial competition of the medical aesthetic industry."
Nandu reporter learned that the water light needle is a solution injected into the shallow layer of the facial dermis to improve the state of the skin, and its main ingredient is hyaluronic acid (hyaluronic acid).
Hao Haishengke of the "three giants of hyaluronic acid" once disclosed the average unit price and cost of hyaluronic acid products in the prospectus, in 2018, the company's hyaluronic acid products with a cost of 19.22 yuan, the sales unit price can reach 285.35 yuan, and the gross profit margin is as high as 93.26%, comparable to Maotai.
Until 2021, the financial report of Bloomage Bio, the "first share of hyaluronic acid", shows that the gross profit margin of pharmaceutical grade hyaluronic acid raw materials remains at a high level of 87%.
Photo: Bloomage Biotech's 2021 financial report
Sun Zhongsheng reminded that consumers should ask more questions and compare more when purchasing medical beauty projects, and can consult the compliance of doctors' products, whether they have undergone strict approval, especially when encountering products with low prices, they should pay more attention to their eyes, and they can also inquire on the official website of the State Food and Drug Administration.
Frequently "copycat" domestic cosmetics
In addition to copycat foreign big brands, the counterfeit objects of criminals have also begun to spread in recent years on cutting-edge domestic beauty brands.
"Flower Lucy", "Flower Unitary", "Flower Akane", "Perfect Diary", "Perfect Little Diary"... Only a word difference, the brand LOGO, name, style is extremely similar, these cover-up, deceiving consumers of the "cottage" means, so that perfect diary, Huaxizi, Kazilan, Marumi, colorkey and other beauty brands are deeply troubled by fakes.
Huaxizi's chief anti-counterfeiting officer revealed to Nandu reporters, "According to statistics, there are currently more than 20,000 'scraping edge ball' copycat product links on the whole network, such as brands such as 'Hualuxizi', and it is difficult to determine whether similar acts constitute infringement at the legal level." So far, we have removed 16,151 copycat product links through platform complaints, and there are still nearly 5,000 cottage product links that are difficult to complain about or have entered the administrative litigation stage, and the litigation cycle is long. ”
Not only is Hua Xizi "imitated", but many domestic cosmetics are also caught in the fate of "being copied".
In January this year, a beauty company in Guangzhou was fined 120,000 yuan by the Guangzhou Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for plagiarizing the lip glaze of the perfect diary business card for suspected unfair competition.
Nandu reporter noted that this administrative lawsuit was filed and investigated since July 5 last year, and this is only one of the many lawsuits of business card lip glaze, as well as other explosive products such as animal eyeshadow plates that have been "plagiarized".
Administrative penalties imposed by the Guangzhou Market Supervision and Administration Bureau.
Picture according to the official website of Perfect Diary.
"Annual salary of 300,000 to recruit anti-counterfeiting officers"
Beauty brands set off a crackdown on counterfeiting
In the face of hidden cottage behavior, domestic cosmetics began to establish a set of anti-counterfeiting mechanisms.
In July 2019, Perfect Diary set up a special intellectual property team to be responsible for intellectual property registration, layout and anti-counterfeiting rights protection. Perfect Diary has mentioned that it has filed complaints on the grounds of trademark infringement, image theft and copyright infringement, and deleted a large number of fake goods and various imitation copycat goods on the Internet.
In March 2020, Hua Xizi also "recruited anti-counterfeiting officials with an annual salary of 300,000 yuan". According to media reports, in the month when Huaxizi's chief anti-counterfeiting officer was formally recruited, Huaxizi complained about nearly 2,000 pieces of fake goods information on various e-commerce platforms, and prosecuted more than 300 cases.
Hua Xizi anti-counterfeiting propaganda poster.
Industry insiders revealed that factors such as difficulty in collecting evidence, long and high cost of rights protection, and complicated infringement determination of cottage products are common problems encountered by the beauty industry in cracking down on counterfeiting. The good news is that big data means such as keyword tracking and one-code traceability are making it more and more convenient to crack down on counterfeiting.
The relevant person in charge of Huaxizi said that this is just the beginning, and in the future, Huaxizi will increase its efforts to crack down on counterfeiting, focus on targeting key cities, and use a faster and more efficient model to crack down on illegal and criminal acts such as counterfeiting and selling counterfeits. It is understood that at present, Huaxizi has formed a scientific anti-counterfeiting system that combines "popularization, specialization, legalization, and refinement".
Written by: Nandu reporter Yang Liyun
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