China News Agency, Beijing, August 13th. Recently, media reports that a kind of "Tianyan" brand cigarettes are sold in Guizhou, Yunnan and other places, aroused heated discussions. In response to the situation where the name "Tianyan", a country's most important tool, was speculatively registered as a trademark and used by tobacco companies, the China Smoking Control Association issued a document on the 13th, demanding that China Tobacco Yunnan maliciously registered the "Tianyan" trademark.
The "Appeal on Legally Declaring the "Tianyan" Cigarette Trademark" issued on the same day pointed out that the "Tianyan" located in Guizhou is China's largest single-caliber and most sensitive radio telescope with independent intellectual property rights in the world. It is a country that observes the universe. Major scientific and technological infrastructure is also the country's important weapon that the country has spent a lot of money on, and it took 22 years for scientists such as Nan Rendong to build it. However, the name of the country's most important weapon was registered as a trademark and used by tobacco companies.
It is understood that the "Sky Eye" cigarette package not only has the panoramic model of "Sky Eye" and the word "FAST" ("FAST" is the acronym for "China Sky Eye" Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, full name " A five-hundred-meter spherical radio telescope"), also decorated with magnificent nebulae and brilliant stars. On March 17, 2017, Hongyun Honghe Tobacco (Group) Co., Ltd. applied for the registration of the Chinese trademark "Tianyan", and one year later, it applied Registered "Tianyan Yunyan" and "Tianyan Yunyan FAST", the above three types of trademarks are all tobacco products.
The China Tobacco Control Association pointed out that surveys show that there are about 308 million smokers in China, and the number of deaths caused by smoking in China exceeds 1.7 million every year. The “Tianyan” brand trademark of China Tobacco Yunnan not only violates the relevant provisions of the “Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China”, but also runs counter to the strategic decision of the “Healthy China Action”.
The China Tobacco Control Association emphasized that China Tobacco Yunnan maliciously registered the "Tianyan" trademark and vigorously promoted the "Tianyan" cigarettes, which will aggravate the harm of tobacco and hinder the national tobacco control work. The use of "Tianyan" as a trademark of tobacco products is obviously malicious "touching porcelain", although relevant tobacco companies use the so-called "tribute to the scientific spirit" and "memorial to Mr. Nan Rendong" to beautify their behavior in packaging themselves, and print on the packaging of tobacco products. The image of "Sky Eye" and the name of the national key scientific and technological project are really hard to make people appreciate the feeling of tribute, but it means profanity.
Based on the above reasons, the China Tobacco Control Association strongly urges that the Trademark Office of the State Intellectual Property Office shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law, seriously investigate and deal with the case of China Tobacco Yunnan’s malicious preemptive registration of the “Tianyan” trademark and declare the relevant registered trademark invalid. Relevant national departments should improve the relevant regulations on tobacco product packaging as soon as possible in accordance with relevant requirements, and promote plain packaging; require tobacco product packaging to be printed in large, clear, and directly reflecting health picture warnings of diseases caused by tobacco use, in standard colors and fonts (Paperback) Display the brand name and product name, and restrict or prohibit the use of other logos, colors, brand images or promotional text on the packaging. Avoid the appearance of "Sky Eye" and other national key projects and famous landmarks on cigarette packaging, and use this to market and promote tobacco products. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration should instruct its subsidiary Yunnan China Tobacco Company to take the initiative to cancel the "Tianyan" related trademarks, as far as possible to restore the reputation damage to the country's major scientific and technological infrastructure "China Tianyan" and hurt the public sentiment. (Finish)