“On those online platforms, there are not only the “Ghost Store” in Guangming Village, but also the “Lee Ghost Store” with many brand stores.” Not long ago, the news of the “Ghost Store” in Guangming Village appeared on the takeaway platform, which made many Shanghai residents feel like it. It was shocked, and then the reader Miss Chen reported to the “IT Times”complaintShe said that she had found a “Nanmen Shabu-shabu” restaurant on Dianping, but the dining experience was very different from the previous experience in the Beijing head office. She suspected that she had entered a “Li Guidian”.
“IT Times” reporter survey found that on the life service platform based on LBS, such as Dianping, Word of Mouth, Baidu Maps, etc., the name “Nanmen Shabu”hot potThere are dozens of stores, and the trademark holder of “Hongyuan Nanmen Steamed Meat”, a relevant person from Beijing Hongyuan Nanmen Steamed Meat Co., Ltd. confirmed to reporters that there are only four stores in Shanghai that have opened and one is about to open. “South Gate Steamed Meat.”
South Gate Steamed Meat, Source: IT Times
“We have complained to various platforms, but it is of no use. We are currently complaining to the market supervision department, and the results should be handled soon.” On October 27, the person in charge of the Shanghai area of Nanmen Steamed Meat told reporters.
01
Where is so much “South Gate Shabu-shabu”?
Open Dianping, search for “South Gate Shabu Pork”, the homepage recommends more than a dozen “Nanmen Shabu Pork”, “Nanmen Shabu Pork” (Changshou Store), “Nanmen Shabu Pork” (Caoyang Store), ” “Nanmen Steamed Pork” (Putuo Store)… the name format is neat and uniform, and the heads of the stores are all red. The reporter immediately dialed the number of the previous “branches”. One said that it was called “Jingyue South Gate Steamed Meat”, and some said that they were “the branch of the Expo Source”, not a “direct-operated store”. “Franchise Store”. Another said that it is called “Nanmen Steamed Meat”, but it has nothing to do with the Expo source.
Source: Dianping Dianping
On the public comment, some netizens wrote in the comment of “Nanmen Steamed Meat (Quxi Road Store)”, “I don’t quite understand the number of ways of steaming meat in Nanmen now. The decoration styles of each store are not uniform, and they probably started to join in. NS.”
“We only have five stores in Shanghai, and one of them is still preparing to open.” On October 27, a staff member of Beijing Hongyuan Catering Management Co., Ltd. told reporters that only the words “Nanmen Steamed Meat (Shanghai One (Two) ) Shop” is the authentic “Nanmen Steamed Meat”, and the company does not open applications for franchising.
“Nanmen Steamed Pork” is a well-known hot pot restaurant chain in Beijing, named “Nanmen Steamed Pork” because its head office opened at the south gate of the Temple of Heaven. During the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, “Nanmen Steamed Meat” served as a Chinese specialty delicacy in the Expo Garden. After the Expo, it stayed in Shanghai, and the most well-known restaurant was opened in Expo Yuan.
Source: Qixinbao
Since there are only five “Nanmen Shabu-shabu” stores, why are there so many “Nanmen Shabu-shabu” on Dianping? “IT Times” reporters looked through the business licenses of the previous “Nanmen Steamed Meat” and found that there was no information related to “Nanmen Steamed Meat” in the names of the companies that these stores belonged to.
Meituan customer service told reporters that the name of the store does not necessarily need to be related to the registration information. If the “Nanmen Shabu” brand has not been protected in the system, any store can be called “Nanmen Shabu”, or even a belt. A name with the words “Branch” without the need to provide a “chain certificate”.
She suggested that reporters, if you want to complain about these “South Gate Steamed Meat”, you can provide the registered trademark information, the platform will conduct offline processing of these stores after verification, and provide a link to the complaint.
02
“Li Gui” directly infringes on Baidu Maps
“We have also contacted the customer service of the platform. No one told us that we can do this, and no one cares about this.” The person in charge of the above-mentioned Nanmen Steamed Meat in Shanghai said that in addition to Dianping, it is also available on life service platforms such as Word of Mouth and Baidu Map Service. I found that there are “same-name shops” on the Internet, but complaints are basically useless.
A reporter from “IT Times” searched for “Nanmen Steamed Meat” on Baidu Maps and found that compared to Dianping, there are several “Li Guidians” that are more undisguised, not only claiming to be “Hongyuan Nanmen Steaming Meat”, but also pictures of their signatures. They are all classic yellow lamb shop tricks. From the address point of view, these stores are exactly the ones the reporter had seen in Dianping.
Source: Baidu Map
When the reporter finally found the customer service on the Baidu map and initiated an online complaint, he encountered the “robot customer service”-it could not understand the reporter’s question. As of press time, the reporter has not found a Baidu map customer service who can complain about these “Li Guidian”. You can only click “Report Error” on the page of this store and select “Report Error at Location”. There is no infringement complaint window.
Source: Word of mouth
In Alipay’s “good reputation stores”, except for a few stores that clearly read “Jingyue South Gate Steamed Meat”, most of the other “South Gate Steamed Meat” store names are displayed in the same format as the public comment. When responding to the reporter’s complaint about these stores, Word of Mouth customer service said that the reporter needs to provide the identity certificate, patent certificate, trademark registration certificate and other ownership certificates of the right holder and the complaining party.
“I am a consumer, where can I find these certificates? Isn’t the platform responsible for verification?” Faced with reporters’ doubts, Word of Mouth customer service said, “I’m sorry, there is no information that cannot be verified.”
Source: Word of mouth
03
Lawyer: The platform needs to be held responsible for infringements
Faced with the “inaction” of the platform, the person in charge of the aforementioned Nanmen Steamed Meat was very helpless. She told reporters that she had already lodged a request for rights protection with the market supervision and management department, and there should be results after a while.
“Our registered trademark is Hongyuan South Gate Steamed Meat, so it is more troublesome to defend rights.” Another “South Gate Steamed Meat” employee told reporters.
Qixinbao searched for “South Gate Steamed Meat” and found 36 trademark applications with the registered name of “×××南门涮肉”, but none of the stores successfully applied for “South Gate Steamed Meat”.
Source: Qixinbao
Beijing Hongyuan Catering Management Co., Ltd. applied for the “South Gate Steamed Meat” trademark twice in 2006 and 2010, but both were in the “waiting for substantive examination” stage. It was not until 2012 that the application for “Hongyuan South Gate Steamed Meat” was successfully applied. . Beginning in 2019, many catering management companies have registered trademarks with “×××南门涮肉”, many of which have been successfully registered, but many are still in the “waiting for substantive examination” stage, and some applications have been rejected.
Source: Qixinbao
“If another person has registered a trademark on service categories such as catering, restaurant, etc., the other person uses a trademark that is the same or similar to the trademark owner’s trademark on the same or similar services without the permission of the trademark owner, which constitutes a trademark Infringement.” Zhao Zhanzhu, a lawyer from Beijing Yunjia Law Firm, believes that if Beijing Nanmen Steamed Meat Company has registered the trademark “Hongyuan Nanmen Steamed Meat”, and other people use Nanmen Steamed Meat for catering services, both The composition is similar and should be trademark infringement.
Li Li, a lawyer at Beijing Shang Gong (Shanghai) Law Firm, believes that if both parties have legal trademark rights, it is difficult to directly judge whether there is infringement. Either apply for invalidation of the other party’s trademark or complain about unfair competition, but the difficulty of organizing evidence is very difficult. . It is also possible to protect rights through the identification of “well-known trademarks”, but well-known trademarks are not actively identified, and are only identified in the handling of related disputes.
Meituan customer service replied that if the two stores have similar trademarks, the platform will determine whether the infringement is infringement before and after the registration time.
However, in Dianping’s search results, the word “brand” appeared next to “Nanmen Steamed Meat” that appeared in the first search position. The customer service told reporters that this was applied after the cooperation between the Nanmen Steamed Meat brand and Meituan.
Source: Dianping
“What information does the brand need to provide?”
“Trademark registration or authorization.”
This is a “Jingyue South Gate Steamed Meat”, and Qixinbao’s inquiry revealed that the “South Gate Steamed Meat Jingyue” application of Shanghai Shrimp Fun Restaurant was rejected and marked as “the trademark has expired.”
Source: Qixinbao
What responsibilities should the platform bear in the fight against counterfeiting? Li Li believes that for those businesses that do not have trademark rights, the platform should take measures, otherwise it will be held responsible, depending on the material and content of the complaint and response. Sometimes the information provided by the complainant is incomplete, or the party complained about it. In response to strong doubts, rights protection may be tricky. “The laws and regulations do not provide too much detail on platform review obligations, but from a reasonable point of view, the platform should require certification of trademark rights. This type of information is available on the platform of the State Intellectual Property Office. The above can be publicly queried”. (IT Times)