Internet celebrity hot word squatting: the "Ding Zhen" trademark in the transfer application is asking for 180,000

  The Paper Journalist Zhuang An

  In the month when Ding Zhen, the "Sweet Wild Boy" in Litang, Sichuan became popular, as of December 13, there were 122 trademark registration applications involving "Ding Zhen" on ChinaTrademark.com, except for 18 applications for registration by the company where Ding Zhen worked. In addition, the applicants are all individuals and companies unrelated to Ding Zhen.

  The same phenomenon happened to Ma Baoguo.

According to information from China Trademark Network, since November 22, 2020, there have been 5 applications for the "Mabaoguo" trademark; and the online hot word "Mouse Tail Juice" has been applied for 210 applications since November 11, 2020. , There are as many as dozens of companies and individuals.

The Paper reporter made an unannounced visit to the transfer of the unregistered Ding Zhen trademark.

The Paper Journalist Zhuang Antu

  The Paper found that in addition to "mouse tail juice", there are related trademark applications such as "Does not speak martial ethics", "Five Lianbian", "Jiehuafa", etc., and trademark applications involving "Ma Baoguo" "never missed one." ".

  The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) found in an unannounced interview that behind the trademark application to follow the trend of Internet celebrities and hot words, the speculation of trademarks was also "undercurrent". A company in Hunan that applied for the trademark "Ding Zhen" has not yet issued its trademark certificate. , It offered a price of 188,000 yuan; a company in Zhengzhou just applied for the "rat tail juice" trademark, and said that it can be authorized for use at a price of 10,000 yuan per year.

The Paper reporter made an unannounced visit to the transfer of the unregistered Ding Zhen trademark.

The Paper Journalist Zhuang Antu

  A number of intellectual property experts told The Paper that Internet celebrities and hot words have been registered or applied for trademarks in large numbers, showing a pathological follow-up phenomenon. Resale, reselling, and malicious complaints have caused the trademark market to be out of order, and there are also excessive demands. There are social problems such as licensing fees, fraud, and even extortion.

At the same time, a large number of disputed trademarks have flowed into the market, which has adversely affected the business order. The trademark examination department needs to further improve the quality of examination and ensure the "access" of trademarks.

  "The current phenomenon of trademark cybersquatting has gone against the original meaning of the trademark law." Intellectual property lawyer Ma Dongxiao told Peng Mei News, "Trademark registration is for use, not for speculation." A clear direction, "The value of a trademark lies in its use, and a consensus should be formed in all sectors of society."

The Paper reporter made an unannounced visit to the transfer of the unregistered Ding Zhen trademark.

The Paper Journalist Zhuang Antu

The unregistered Ding Zhen trademark: the price is 188,000 within 24 hours

  In mid-November, Ding Zhen, a young man in Litang, Sichuan, caused a 10-second video to become popular on the Internet, prompting trademark squatters to "snatch" the internet celebrity Ding Zhen.

  The Paper combed and found that starting from November 14, 2020, as of December 13, there were 122 trademark applications involving "Ding Zhen" in one month, except for the Litang County Cultural Tourism and Sports Investment Development, where Ding Zhen joined. Except for the registration of 18 trademarks of "Ding Zhen Pearl", the other application subjects are individuals and companies that have nothing to do with Ding Zhen.

The trademarks being applied for include Ding Zhen’s brother, Ding Zhen’s world, Ding Zhen’s smile, Ding Zhen’s travel, etc., with strong suspicions of “snapping hot spots” and “being traffic”.

  The above-mentioned trademark applications cover almost 45 major categories of the international trademark classification.

Some trademark applicants took the initiative to apply for the "Ding Zhen" trademark in multiple categories of goods.

The Paper contacted Hunan Maggie Ami Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd., which has applied for the "Ding Zhen" trademark in 13 categories.

  According to Tianyan Check, this is a small and micro enterprise with a registered capital of 2 million yuan.

According to data from ChinaTrademark.com, the company has applied for registration of more than ten products on clothing, luggage, toys and other commodities with Indian national treasure actor Amir Hussein Khan and famous American professional basketball player Zion Williamson. The name and the Chinese translation of the name are exactly the same trademarks, but they have not been approved for registration.

The Paper reporter made an unannounced visit to the transfer of the unregistered Ding Zhen trademark.

The Paper Journalist Zhuang Antu

  I heard that the person in charge of the company asked reporters to add WeChat to communicate with the company when consulting the trademark "Ding Zhen".

Straightforwardly, the person in charge said, "Ding Zhen's entire network has 5 billion exposures", and then said that he registered the "Ding Zhen" trademark "for future use, whoever wants to see the price of the other party."

The Paper noted that this is a company only established in 2015.

  After the reporter stated that he was a medical company and wanted to buy a 10th category "Ding Zhen" trademark, the person in charge issued a "quotation price": "Within 24 hours, the price is 188,000." Then he explained: "( Ding Zhen) The exposure has been going on. If he makes another explosive news on Douyin today, I will not sell it at this price."

  Then, the person in charge sent a screenshot of Ding Zhen's topic ranking on the day of the interview on Douyin, which showed that the hotspot top15 and 2450w people were watching. He also posted a search screenshot with billions of views, and finally sent a paragraph to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The spokesperson mentioned Ding Zhen's small video.

  "It covers all the people born in the 80s, 90s, and 00s. This name is definitely hot, and the topic has been heating up, and he is absolutely positive energy, and the country has stood for him." He said.

  It is worth noting that in the first chat, the reporter asked if the Dingzhen trademark was registered, and he said "yes".

After the quotation, he was asked if the trademark certificate has been obtained, and he said that "not yet."

He said: "When the certificate is obtained, the price (188,000) should not be available."

Trademark cybersquatter's "routine": follow the trend of Internet celebrities and bursts

  It is not just the "Ding Zhen" trademark that is being priced high.

  The Paper noted that the trademark applicants have not let go of the hot words related to Ma Baoguo, such as "mouse tail juice", "no martial ethics", "five consecutive whips", and "Jianhuafa".

Among them, there have been 210 trademark registration applications for "Mouse Tail Juice" from November 11, 2020 to December 13, 2020; 29 applications for "Do Not Talk About Wushu" since November 17, 2020.

  In addition, the recent online hot word "beating workers", from October 23 to December 13, 2020, there have been 142 trademark registration applications; "ganfan people" since November 17, 2020, there have been 45 Applications.

  The Paper randomly visited Zhengzhou Bentong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

This company is a small and micro enterprise with a registered capital of 1 million yuan. On November 17, it applied for the registration of the trademark "Mouse Tail Juice" on 43 and 32 categories of products, and also applied for the registration of "Dianfanren" on many categories of products.

  On the phone, the person in charge of the company said that its "rats tail juice" trademark has not yet been registered, but his tone was quick, "This word is quite popular. If you want to use it, we authorize it for you. You use it for two or three years. Ten thousand yuan a year."

  Since the certification has not yet been issued, how can we talk about "authorization"?

The person in charge said, "Our company is the first to register, with a 95% certification rate. You can use it without our consent. Then we can sue you for infringement. Has been discontinued."

  In the view of senior intellectual property lawyer Ma Dongxiao, this "threat" of infringement is completely unfamiliar with the law.

"Trademarks that have not been approved for registration do not enjoy exclusive rights. If you have used this trademark on a product before someone else's trademark application is registered, you are protected by law and can continue to use it within the original scope."

  In fact, according to the information from China Trademark Network, Zhengzhou Wendong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. is not the first company to apply for the registration of the "Mousetail Juice" trademark.

  Ma Dongxiao introduced that based on the revised "Trademark Law" in 2019, it clearly stipulates that "malicious trademark registration applications that are not intended for use should be rejected." Such "hot spot" trademark applications are highly likely to be rejected.

  The Paper News statistics found that in past cases, such as "blue thin mushrooms", in 2016, it was released by the Ministry of Education and the National Language Commission as the top ten online terms of the year. It was a smash hit. According to the public information of China Trademark Network, since October 2016 Since the 11th, there have been a total of 403 trademark applications for "blue thin shiitake mushrooms", but only 8 trademarks have been registered so far; the hot word "Awkward Talk" in 2017 also shows 65 trademark registration applications, but so far only 3 The trademark containing the words "Awkward Talk" was registered.

  “The squatting of internet celebrities and hot words like Ding Zhen’s trademark application has obvious malicious intent to register.” Ma Dongxiao said that for the “purpose of use” of trademarks, the Trademark Law clearly stipulates that “use the trademark for goods, Commodity packaging or containers and commodity transaction documents, or the use of trademarks in advertising, exhibitions and other commercial activities to identify the source of goods.”

It is the essence of the trademark system that generates value through use rather than registration. Obviously, many trademark applicants do not have and do not intend to produce goods or provide services themselves.

  Ma Dongxiao said that in two cases, the industry generally recognizes it as "malicious": one is to register trademarks similar to or similar to well-known brands with famous brands, and the other is to hoard registered trademarks for resale and reselling for profit.

  According to Qian Zhulin, a lawyer at Beijing Duohe Law Firm, the principle of good faith is the basic principle of the "Trademark Law", that is, compliance with recognized business ethics and fair competition, and "malicious registration" violates this principle.

In the subjective aspect of “malicious registration”, in addition to knowing or ought to know, it still needs to meet the appearance characteristics of improper purpose or abuse of rights. It may be manifested as: requesting high transfer fees, coercing cooperation, misleading consumers in actual use, Improper methods hinder the normal operation of the real right holder (if they are not used, the real right holder is not allowed to use it), etc.

In just one month, the number of trademark applications for the hot word "mouse tail juice" reached 210.

Screenshot of the official website of the Trademark Office

Internet celebrity trouble: Big V was asked for 2 million after being squashed

  “The gray industrial chain of malicious squatting of trademarks continues to refurbish its routines. It is spreading to the emerging Internet industry and the digital economy, seriously disrupting business order.” According to relevant intellectual property experts, after the cyber celebrity’s name was registered, the cyber squatters It is not uncommon for Hong to ask for licensing fees or to coerce to purchase trademarks at high prices.

  On August 3, 2019, the Internet celebrity UP owner Jing Hanqing who has more than 9 million fans at station B posted a video saying that his name "Jing Hanqing" was registered as a trademark by a company, and the company asked him to stop Use this name, otherwise, each platform will be contacted for banning.

  A media investigation found that the electronic product sales department of Zhiqiao District, Jinghu District, Wuhu City, which registered the trademark "Jing Hanqing", is an individual business with a registered capital of only 20 yuan. It has submitted more than 100 trademark registration applications. The names of well-known video bloggers such as "Farmer Girl" were successfully registered.

Subsequently, station B issued an official statement stating that it would provide legal assistance to creators whose trademarks were registered maliciously.

Afterwards, there were still 7 companies or individuals applying for registration of "Jing Hanqing".

  The incident was reported by the media and caused concern. Four months later, the aforementioned cybersquatting "Jing Hanqing" trademark was declared invalid.

  Similarly, in March 2019, Kuaishou's 10 million fan users "Mama Liu" and Kuaishou platform were sued by Shandong Jiuyantang Trading Co., Ltd. for infringing on the exclusive rights of "Mama Liu" trademark and demanded to pay 2 million yuan in losses.

Subsequently, "Mama Liu" filed a trademark invalidation request against the registered trademark "Mama Liu" in her own name.

  The State Intellectual Property Office believes that Shandong Jiuyantang Trading Co., Ltd. has applied for the registration of a total of 20 trademarks in multiple categories of goods or services, among which trademarks such as "Mama Liu", "小小小球球吖" and other webcast platforms such as Kuaishou The host’s screen name is the same or similar.

Such acts of copying, plagiarizing, and imitating other people's prior well-known trademarks that are not for the purpose of use are hoarding trademarks without justifiable reasons, which have obviously exceeded the normal production and operation needs and undermined the market order of fair competition.

  On September 29, 2020, the State Intellectual Property Office ruled that the "Mama Liu" trademark registered by Jiuyantang Company was invalid.

  Internet celebrity "manual Geng" also encountered similar troubles of being squashed.

Henan Xincai County Xinyi Trading Co., Ltd. applied for 8 categories of trademarks with the words "manual Geng".

The company's filing of these trademark applications coincided with the period when the "handmade" intensive media attention.

The Paper inquired about China Trademark Network, and these 8 trademarks are currently in "opposition."

  The sudden rush of malicious squatting has indeed made many self-media creators in the growth stage feel exhausted.

  According to the Economic Voice of China Central Radio and Television, “Handmade Geng” originally planned to use his popularity on the content platform to drive the sales of agricultural products in the village and the villagers’ employment at home. However, the plan was not allowed due to the registration of related trademarks. Do not run aground temporarily.

  The platform economy is also injured.

In an interview with the media, the relevant operation person in charge of station B said that the platform has invested a lot in human and material resources for the media creators.

The annual investment in the "Creation Incentive Program" alone is over 100 million.

Similar malicious cybersquatting occurs and the trademark holder requires creators to change their names, which is a huge hazard to creators and the entire creative ecology.

High profitability at low cost becomes the motive, and good auditing is the key

  According to public reports, as of the end of October 2020, the number of valid registered trademarks in my country has reached 29.182 million, ranking first in the world for many years.

  In an interview with The Paper, relevant intellectual property experts believed that behind the soaring number of trademarks, there have been long-term chaos surrounding famous brands, malicious squatting, and hoarding trademarks.

The phenomenon of cyber celebrity hot words and traffic IP has been around for a long time, and it has become more and more intense in recent years. There are many social reasons.

  A review article published by the Red Net believes that when cybersquatting of stubborn trademarks becomes a market trend, businesses rush to use jokes and hot words to attract momentary enthusiasm and use traffic as a business secret. It is a short-sighted behavior that seeks quick success and blindly follows suit. A kind of morbidity to follow the trend of flow heat, which deserves to be corrected and corrected.

The evacuation of this unhealthy atmosphere requires the joint efforts of many parties. First, the market supervision department must focus on monitoring such incidents, check the qualifications of trademark application enterprises, and maintain a reasonable and orderly market environment. Moreover, for businesses , Doing good product quality is the last word.

  "This kind of pathological cybersquatting started from hoarding registered trademarks and reselling them." Ma Dongxiao said that in the past few years, due to the long trademark review period, many businesses opened online stores or entered businesses overtime. Everything was ready, but they couldn't get them. Registered trademarks, but I hurried to buy one from someone else, and then a middleman appeared. The middleman made a price difference and many people discovered that the high-priced transfer of hoarding trademarks is a way to make money.

At the same time, some news such as "snatching a certain trademark reselling for millions of profits" further "inspires" the growth of professional cybersquatter groups.

In addition, the cost of trademark registration has dropped sharply, currently only 300 yuan per piece, which also lowers the threshold for profit-making trademark cybersquatting. It was originally a reform measure for the convenience of the people, but it was used.

  Ma Dongxiao believes that as a mark to identify the source of goods and services, its full meaning and value lies in its use.

In recent years, registered trademarks have been dissimilated into profit-making tools for some professional cybersquatters and become a stubborn disease in the market. Regarding cybersquatting, the "Trademark Law" grants the counterparty and right holder the right to raise objections, apply for cancellation, and apply for invalidation.

However, when disputed trademarks flow into the market, the cost of time, energy, and money required for rights protection is high, which will adversely affect business order and economic development.

  Qian Zhulin, a lawyer at Beijing Duohe Law Firm, believes that the newly revised Trademark Law in 2019 has to some extent cracked down on the traditional “hoarding of trademarks”, but malicious registrants turned to look for “business opportunities” in the development of the Internet economy. Malicious intellectual property complaints, litigation and other methods to seek improper benefits.

  Qian Zhulin noted that the rapid development of the Internet economy has extremely high requirements for timeliness, and the existing trademark remedies and procedures are more established based on the traditional economy, which has a long cycle and cannot protect rights in a timely and effective manner. The legal rights of people increase the cost of rights protection, and even make the right holder reach a settlement with the malicious complainant through a "pay" method. The malicious trademark complainant also seizes this point to conduct extortion and seek illegitimate interests.

  Qian Zhulin suggested that, in response to the current trademark squatting chaos on Internet celebrities and hot words, the Trademark Office can broaden the reporting channels, accept reports of "trademark hooligans", and promptly conclude the case to determine maliciously registered trademarks in a timely manner Invalid; In addition, for professional cybersquatters' dishonesty behavior, a "blacklist" is opened for real-time publicity to strengthen the crackdown on cybersquatting behavior.