Audi sued Weilai hot discussions, and the "love and hatred" of trademark disputes in car companies

Economic Observation Network reporter Pu Zhenyu on June 18, Germany's "Star Weekly" reported that Audi sued Weilai in Munich, Germany, accusing Weilai SUV model ES6 and ES8 infringement of the trademark rights of the Audi S6 and S8.

One is Audi, a traditional German luxury car manufacturer, and the other is China's new car company Weilai. The two have no intersection before. Whether it is two types of products involved in disputes or the names of the model, it seems that it is not difficult. But they collided together.

In this regard, Audi and Weilai are not commented. Some analysts believe that with the acceleration of the transformation of the automotive industry, the relationship between fuel vehicles and electric vehicles are increasingly tense. In addition, multinational car companies will generally encounter resistance when promoting their localization strategy in various countries. These may be Factors of Audi and Weilai trademark disputes.

An indisputable fact is that there are never many trademark disputes in the automotive field. Tesla and Ford compete for "Model E", GM, regardless of the "villagers" emotional complaints, complained to Ford's "BlueCruise" trademark, GAC passenger car and Changan trademark "face", Ford Mustang was sued by Sichuan Steak Mustang, Chery and Mercedes -Benz would EQ (EQ) trademarks are torn ... Some of these cases have hit the point where you die, and some ends with shaking hands.

Although the reasons behind are different, they all reflect the complexity of the interests between car companies.

Audi blocks Weilai into Germany?

Weilai ES6 and ES8, which have been sued by Audi, are medium and medium -sized pure electric SUVs. The European prices are equivalent to RMB 500,000. The Audi S6 and S8 are high -performance versions of medium and large fuel cars A6 and large -scale fuel cars A8, which were born in the 1990s, and European prices were equivalent to more than 500,000 yuan. Both types of products are completely different in both models, power, and prices.

Some German analysts did not understand the prosecution of Audi. It is reported that Ferdinander Dudhov, the head of the CAR Motor Center of the University of Essen, Germany, said, "The chances of two different models of SUV and D-Class high-performance luxury cars are very low."

From a motivation, Weilai Automobile is scheduled to enter the European automobile market at the end of this year. Audi was watching Weilai this trend, that is, the German local market was a little worried or even jealous of emerging electric vehicle companies. At present, more and more Chinese car companies are planning to carry out contests with old -fashioned European car companies like Audi.

In a report, Stefan Bratzel, a professor at the German Automobile Management Center, stated that a single lawsuit cannot prevent the pace of Chinese car manufacturers. Essence

Weilai entered the first stop of the European market in May last year, Norway, and opened the first "Weilai Center" in Oslo to sell ES8 simultaneously. Data show that as of May 31, Weilai has registered 404 ES8 in the Norwegian market this year, with 604 ES8 waiting for delivery. Weilai plans to land in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark by the end of this year.

Although Weilai is still in the early days of market development in Europe, it does not pose a substantial threat to Audi. However, in the Chinese market, new car manufacturers such as Weilai and ideals have snatched quite a lot of sales in the main market range of traditional luxury brands. According to data from the Federation of Federation, from January to May this year, the ideal ONE sales were 47,300 units, ranking fifth in the high-end SUV market, and the sales volume was only about 5,000 less than the fourth Audi Q5L. The top ten high -end SUV market.

Further reading:

When the Tesla Model 3 was born, Musk’s "SEX" dream broke

For Weilai's encounter, its opponent Tesla can also feel the same. As early as ten years ago, Tesla also snatched a quite important trademark with the old fuel car company Ford, and this competition ended with Tesla's failure.

Model 3 is now one of the world's best -selling electric models, but Model 3 has its name. Tesla's head of Elon Musk recalled in an interview in 2014: "A friend asked me at a banquet, 'What do you plan to give the third -generation car? , So we may name it E. "In this way, the names of the three models of Model S and Model X and Model E are connected to" SEX ".

However, this name that once made Musk's saliva became unable to ask for it. Because Ford car called Musk later, it threatened that if Tesla used the Model E trademark, Ford would file a lawsuit. The reason is that the name is too similar to the Ford's classic T -type car (Model T). Ford has launched Model A, B, C, F, K and other models in history, and registered the Model E trademark in front of Tesla in December 2013.

In the end, Musk chose to compromise. It is understood that Tesla and Ford signed a contract in 2010 to ban Tesla from using the names of Model E. In addition to Tesla, Ford also sued a car rental startup in 2000 because the company's name was Model E.

As for the name of "Model E", Ford's carefully guarded, it seems that it is not much useful to this day. Ford has planned to create a series of Model E in the inner pure electric model, which will be launched in 2019. But things contrary to their wishes. As Donald Trump took office in the United States in 2017, Ford was forced to adjust the investment plan, and the previous plan was naturally soaked. In fact, not only electrification, but also the wave of intelligent transformation also objectively triggered trademark disputes between more and more car companies. In April last year, Ford announced that it would use BlueCruise as the name of its driving assistance technology. Three months later, General Motors declared war on Ford, Ford, and Cruise, GM and its autonomous driving subsidiary, filed a lawsuit against Ford, requiring the latter to stop using the name "BlueCruise" to market its departure driving assistance technology.

Ford did not recognize GM's allegations, and issued a statement saying that "for decades, the driver has understood what Cruise Control. Each car manufacturer provides this function. The general abbreviation, so Ford chose BlueCruise as the name of the new generation of intelligent adaptive cruise system for Blueoval. " In the end, the two companies chose reconciliation, but the outside world was unknown.

Ford and Sichuan Auto compete for "Mustang", and multinational car companies have hindered marketing in China

For car companies, especially large multinational car companies, the painful experience of trademarks often not only stems from "one step" in time, but sometimes it is difficult to take into account the markets of different countries.

In July 2018, Ford China issued a statement on the homepage of the official website stating that the civil judgment of the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court of Sichuan Province has performed the use of the "Mustang" in some advertisements in some advertisements to violate Sichuan Sichuan Steam Mustang Co., Ltd. ( The following referred to as "Sichuan Steam Mustang") registered trademarks for the registered trademark has brought adverse effects to the Sichuan Steam Mustang.

It is understood that Sichuan Steam Mustang is a well -known veteran auto company in Sichuan. In 1986, the "Mustang" trademark was registered. The Mustang Cross -road vehicle produced by its production was swept throughout the country.

The Mustang model of Ford was developed in 1962. The car name aims to commemorate the legendary US military P-51 Mustang fighter in World War II. Since Mustang's Chinese translation is "Mustang", after entering China, the Mustang concept car applied for the registered Chinese name "Ford Mustang" trademark in 2006.

In February 2016, the Sichuan Steam Mustang filed a lawsuit with the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court for suspected trademark infringement, suing the Chinese name of Ford's sports car Mustang and the Sichuan Auto Mustang brand, and asked Ford China to compensate for economic losses. In the end, the court ruled that Ford China stopped infringing the special rights of registered trademarks in Sichuan Steak Mustang, compensation for the corresponding economic losses of Sichuan Steam Mustang, and asked Ford China to publish a statement to eliminate the impact. Based on this, the Mustang model will no longer be promoted by the "Mustang".

Among ordinary car consumers, Ford's "Mustang" is well -known that it may be higher than Sichuan Auto "Mustang", but this does not help Ford in trademark lawsuits. It is understood that my country adopts the registration protection system rather than the protection system. Therefore, the registration time of trademark registration is an important basis for judgment. If there are no special circumstances, the party who registered the trademark first will often win the lawsuit.

It is worth noting that when Tesla opened up the Chinese market in his early years, he also eaten on trademark issues. Before Tesla entered the Chinese market, the Chinese Zhan Baosheng held the "TESLA" and "Tesla" trademark, which led Tesla to only carry out business in the name of "Tuotura" at the beginning of China. Until August 2014, in August 2014, Tesla has received relevant trademarks after a long negotiation.

In addition, when Mercedes -Benz's new EQ series electric vehicles entered the Chinese market, they also encountered Chery's prevention. Chery applied for the "Chery EQ" trademark in 2014. In 2016, Mercedes -Benz applied for the "EQ" trademark, which angered Chery. Chery believes that the registered Chery EQ has already been listed on the market and has a certain market size. Mercedes -Benz's application for EQ new energy trademarks has constituted infringement. After communication, the two sides finally reached a reconciliation.

BYD exchanges trademarks with the Great Wall.

Not the trademark disputes between all car companies have been in trouble or tearing their skin. There are many models of the same name in the industry. The most famous models are X7 models. About 10 brands are using or used this car name, including BMW, Lufeng, Huachen Xinyuan, Changan Auchan, Beijing, Beijing, Beijing , Si Hao, Han Teng, and so on. The models that start with S and Model are not a small number of models. But not all the names will cause a fierce battle.

The key factor is whether there is a true conflict. For some trademark disputes that do not involve core interests, more rational car companies still want to solve them in a relatively decent way. There are also many cases.

In 2009, GAC passenger car started to design trademarks and filed a registration application for the "V" label in the same year. The trademark became a reserve trademark. In 2010, Changan also launched a new V -shaped logo and applied to the National Trademark Office for registration in the same year. The new V -shaped standard was subsequently applied to models such as Yidong, CS35, Xinyuexiang, and CS75. In 2013, the two car companies discovered the problem of "hitting their faces" in trademarks. After several months of negotiation, the GAC passenger car transferred the V standard to Changan with 3 million yuan, and the transfer fee was used for public welfare.

Compared with low -cost transfer trademarks, the incident of BYD and Great Wall Motors in the past year not only realized the peaceful resolution of trademark problems, but also helped both car companies to complete a wave of positive publicity and marketing.

In November 2016, Great Wall Motors launched a new brand WEY, the Chinese name "Wei Pai", and later changed to "Wei brand". It is understood that WEY's name is derived from the surname of the founder of the Great Wall, Wei Jianjun, and "Wei" is the core of the WEY brand trademark. However, the "Wei" trademark was submitted by BYD in January 2016 and became a reserve trademark for the dynasty series.

In September last year, a trademark transfer/transfer announcement issued by the National Intellectual Property Office website showed that BYD's "Wei" trademark has officially transferred to Great Wall Motor. BYD was interpreted as "the beauty of adults" by the outside world. In return, Great Wall Motors transferred the registered "landing ship" trademark to BYD in February this year.

In November 2021, BYD released a comprehensive sales network-Ocean.com, which includes the warship series equipped with DM-I hybrid technology. It is understood that the "landing ship" is a MPV model of the warship series, which is expected to be launched next year.

Sorting out the disputes between major car companies at home and abroad around the trademarks, if the two parties go to reconciliation procedures, they often reach consensus in a few months. But if you insist on litigation, it is often difficult to have good results. Ford and Sichuan Automobile's dispute over the "Mustang" trademark. Two years before and after the case, Sichuan Auto initially claimed 10 million yuan, but the court finally ordered compensation of 1 million yuan.

- END -