"Li Kui" was sued by "Li Ghost"?
On the 19th, Thailand's "Royal 50R Group" filed a lawsuit with the Thai court, claiming 10 billion baht (about 2 billion yuan) in compensation from China Luckin. Chinese netizens were shocked, and China Luckin also posted a response: I don't understand, but I was shocked.
The battle between truth and falsehood
It's simple. In 2020, Thailand's "Royal 50R" company preemptively registered the trademark of "Luckin Coffee" in Thailand, turning the iconic "deer head" of the Chinese coffee brand Luckin in a different direction. In 2021, China Luckin found that it had been preemptively registered in Thailand, so it sued "Thai Luckin" in Thailand.
In the first instance, China Luckin won the lawsuit. Thailand Luckin was not satisfied and appealed. In December 2023, the second-instance verdict was announced, China Luckin lost the lawsuit, and Thailand Luckin turned defeat into victory. Subsequently, on the 19th, Thailand's Luckin suddenly announced a high-profile accusation against China Luckin for "damaging its reputation", claiming 10 billion baht from China Luckin on the grounds that China's "lawsuit against the facts" interrupted its business layout.
According to public information, Thailand Luckin has now developed and operated more than a dozen Luckin coffee shops in Thailand, with a total revenue of 1411847 baht (about 290,000 yuan) in 2021.
Sino-Thai joint venture
There are three main points that made netizens and China Luckin "shocked".
The first is why Thailand Luckin was able to turn defeat into victory in the second trial. Song Zhibin, director of Guangdong Nanfang Fred Law Firm, said that trademark protection is geographically limited, and the exclusive right to use a trademark is only protected by law in the country of registration, not in a non-registered country, and China Luckin may not be recognized as a "well-known trademark" by a Thai court, that is, it is difficult for a trademark registered by China Luckin in China to be protected by Thai law. In addition, trademark registration is on a "first-come, first-served" basis, and Luckin Thailand is the first to register in Thailand, so it has the right to say that it is "genuine" under Thai law.
According to media reports, in fact, the term "Thai Royal" can be registered at the Thai Department of Commerce, and any enterprise can register this word. Therefore, as netizens speculated, in Thailand, the appearance of the word "royal" in the trademark does not mean that it has a royal background.
However, coincidentally, many brands under the Thai "Royal 50R" group have "collided" with Chinese brands. In addition to "Thai Luckin Coffee", which was caught in the legal turmoil this time, there are also "Douyin Thailand", "Ping An Pharmacy (Thailand)", "Douyin Coffee" and so on. Moreover, it is reported that the Royal 50R Group is a Sino-Thai joint venture (one of which is 49% owned by Chinese), with a registered capital of 1 million baht, which is relatively small.
Third, Thailand's Luckin claim is as high as 10 billion baht, and it is inevitable that there will be a suspicion of "lion opening its mouth". According to the Royal Thai 50R Group, China's Luckin has damaged its business reputation because it is a well-known Thai company that originally planned to expand to more than 10,000 coffee shops around the world in a short period of time and prepare to go public. China's Luckin caused the disruption of its plans and claimed 9 billion baht. The other 1 billion baht is the damage caused by the seizure of property in the coffee shop of 50R Group by an authorized agent of China Luckin before the court judgment, as well as legal fees.
In this regard, Song Zhibin believes that if the operating income of the Thai company is low, the loss caused by "forcing the plaintiff to stop using the trademark" should not be large, but the amount of "forced seizure of the other party's property" is not easy to speculate. A local Thai lawyer interviewed by the media also said that according to the current volume of Luckin Coffee in Thailand, it may not be as much as the loss of 10 billion baht.
Frequently squatted
Luckin is not alone in experiencing similar problems overseas for Chinese brands. According to statistics, as early as 2005, about 16% of Chinese enterprises' trademarks were preemptively registered abroad. This wave of squatchasing is concentrated on China's time-honored brands, such as "Wang Zhihe", "Qiaqia" and "Lao Gan Ma" trademarks were preemptively registered by the German company EuroKera, Shaoxing's "Daughter Red", "Hero" Jinbi and Longjing Tea were preemptively registered in Japan, and "Dabao" was preemptively registered in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium...... In the past two years, more and more emerging local consumer brands have been copied. For example, well-known domestic trademarks such as the milk tea brand "Chayan Yuese" and the pastry brand "Master Bao" have also been preemptively registered abroad.
It is precisely because it is overseas that it is very difficult to protect trademarks. Because each country's trademark system is independent, trademarks are on a "first-come, first-served" basis, with the exception of the United States. Therefore, Song Zhibin said that for enterprises that have committed or will be committed to the global market, it is necessary to carry out overseas intellectual property layout in advance, and according to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Trademarks, the applicant can designate one or more member states in one application to request the protection of the trademark they are applying for. The "stupid method" for applying for international trademark registration is the most effective than filing an opposition application to the trademark in the application or publication, filing an application for invalidation of a registered trademark, filing an application for cancellation of a registered trademark, and other ex-post remedies after the trademark has been preemptively registered. Once a trademark is registered overseas, the cost of protecting rights may be higher and more difficult due to factors such as differences in laws and judicial practices in different countries/regions, different penalty standards for intellectual property disputes, large overseas rights protection fees and other related expenses, and greater difficulty for enterprises to present evidence.
The Luckin trademark dispute continues, and regardless of whether it really wants to "lose money" to Thailand's Luckin, this is a "paid" lesson for Chinese companies.
Text: Reporter Leng Shuang, Sun Qiman
Edit: Cold
Source: Yangcheng Evening News • Yangcheng faction