Redmi is a sub-brand of Xiaomi and is also very influential. However, unexpectedly, Redmi also encountered trademark squatters. So the preemptive registration of the Redmi trademark will affect the mobile phone business of Xiaomi and Redmi?
The preemptive registration of the Redmi trademark has to start in 2019, when Xiaomi officially announced the independence of the Redmi brand on January 3, 2019.
However, on January 10 of the same year, the trademark "Redmi" was applied for registration by Luoyang Qiche Trading Co., Ltd., designated for use in Class 16, paper; Copy paper (stationery); Periodical; architectural models; Folders (stationery); Book; Posters; Speed printing machine; Toilet paper; Goods such as pens.
The Red Meter trademark applied by Luoyang Qiche Trading Co., Ltd
Xiaomi did not apply for the registration of the "Rdemi" trademark until April 10, 2019, three months later than the former. As a result, the State Intellectual Property Office rejected Xiaomi's trademark registration application and issued a Decision on Rejection of Application for Review. Article 31 of the Trademark Law: "Where two or more applicants for trademark registration apply for registration with identical or similar trademarks on the same kind of goods or similar goods, the trademark applied for earlier shall be preliminarily examined and announced; If an application is filed on the same day, the trademark used earlier shall be preliminarily examined and announced, and the application of another person shall be rejected without publication. ".
However, Xiaomi still did not recognize the result of the review, so it filed an administrative lawsuit and took the State Intellectual Property Office to court, Xiaomi believes that "Redmi" is its original design, not an existing word, with high originality and distinctiveness, after nearly two years of promotion and use, has a high popularity and influence. At the same time, Xiaomi also believes that Luoyang Qiche Trading Co., Ltd. is a malicious preemptive registration, and requests the court to revoke the wrong decision made by the State Intellectual Property Office.
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that Xiaomi's claim lacked factual and legal basis and was not supported. Xiaomi was not satisfied and appealed to the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court, where the second-instance court held that "the first-instance judgment found that the facts were clear, the law was correctly applied, and the procedure was legal, and should be upheld, and Xiaomi's grounds for appeal could not be established, and its appeal request was not supported".
However, Xiaomi's loss of the lawsuit only means that the "Redmi" trademark cannot be applied to the scope of the trademark license held by Luoyang Qiche Trading Co., Ltd., and it can still be used in mobile phones, home appliances, smart wearables and other products.
In response, Xiaomi said: "Redmi" is an important brand of Xiaomi, so we have actively applied for trademarks, but recently we found that there were 5 cases of other market entities preemptively applying for Redmi trademarks in bulk. At present, it is cooperating with relevant departments to crack down on similar phenomena, but successful crackdown requires a certain period of time, in line with the purpose of being responsible for consumers, insisting on opposing malicious preemption, traffic rubbing, free riding and other behaviors, protecting Xiaomi's brand image, and avoiding unnecessary misleading and losses for consumers.
In recent years, with the enhancement of national awareness of intellectual property rights, some people have used trademarks to seek benefits, maliciously preemptively registering trademarks such as hot events, hot personal names, and even hot buzzwords. Even after registering the trademark, these people will not use it at all, but hope to sell it to earn a huge difference.
For example, Redmi was maliciously registered, although it does not involve the mobile phone business operated by the genuine Redmi, but after commercial use, it is easy for consumers to misunderstand, thinking that "Redmi" books and stationery belong to the same brand as Xiaomi's Redmi mobile phone, thereby obtaining improper benefits.