Visual China.
Titanium**Note: This article is published in WeChat*** China Entrepreneur Magazine (ID: iceo-com-cn), the author |Zhang Wenjing, edMina, Titanium ** is released with permission. Landmines were laid three years ago.
On December 17, 2020, Luckin Coffee agreed to pay 1$800 million settlement with the U.S. Exchange Commission (SEC). Countless people have breathed a sigh of relief since then - the 8-month-long financial fraud incident of Luckin Coffee has finally come to an end.
Three days later, Thailand's first "Luckin Coffee" opened in Bangkok. In Thailand, "Luckin fans" rushed to "check in", and some people couldn't help but be excited, calling friends on social platforms;Some people are disappointed, because the newly opened "Luckin Coffee" has neither the trumpest raw coconut latte nor their favorite meteorite latte. They soon found out that the antlers in the Luckin Coffee logo were in the opposite direction
These small splashes far away overseas were not transmitted back to the headquarters of Luckin in Beijing at that time, and the latter was immersed in a relaxed atmosphere after solving a ** annoyance. They didn't know at the time that the next troublesome lead had been quietly buried.
On December 20 this year, the topic "Thailand Luckin claims 10 billion baht from China's Luckin" rushed to the hot search. The buried fuse detonated **.
According to Chinese overseas Chinese on the 19th, the Royal Thai 50R Group (hereinafter referred to as the "50R Group") officially submitted a lawsuit to the Thai court, asking the court to sentence China Luckin to compensate for economic losses of 10 billion baht (about 20 yuan).4.6 billion yuan), the court has accepted the case. According to reports, Luckin Coffee (Thailand)** hereinafter referred to as "Thailand Luckin") is part of the 50R Group.
Prior to this, Luckin Coffee had already fought a round of trademark dispute with 50R Group in court, which ended in defeat. On the afternoon of the 20th, Luckin Coffee responded on its official Weibo, "Regarding the issue of being claimed 10 billion baht by Thailand's fake Luckin, the situation has yet to be verified." ”
Chinese Entrepreneur" contacted a person of Chinese descent who claimed to be a shareholder of Luckin Coffee in Thailand, and said that it was inconvenient to disclose the lawsuit and the operation of Luckin in Thailand. However, he said: "The corporation (Thai Luckin) is Thai, and among the other shareholders, there are both Chinese and Thai people from the Thai side. As early as February 2021, shortly after the opening of the first Luckin store in Bangkok, a netizen posted on Xiaohongshu, "The boss is actually a Chinese." ”
Who is the mysterious person behind Luckin Thailand?How will Luckin Coffee deal with this sky-high compensation lawsuit?
Who is the boss behind this Thai Luckin Coffee, which made Luckin Coffee a head?
Previously, in domestic reports about the 50R group,The most widely circulated version is: a local Thai company engaged in retail, new energy, tourism, real estate, catering and other diversified business management, with the background of the Thai royal family and the military**. It is also rumored that the boss behind Thai Luckin is actually Chinese.
All kinds of rumors make Thai Luckin seem mysterious in the eyes of the outside world.
Fang Ming, who has been a corporate and finance lawyer in China for many years and now lives in Thailand, laughed dumbly when he saw that the company had a "Thai royalty" background.
It's outrageous. As far as he knows, the Thai royal family has a high status in Thailand and is protected by the Thai Constitution. "The Thai royal family invests in companies like Thailand's largest bank, Siam Commercial Bank, and it is impossible to 'touch' Luckin Coffee. ”Fang Ming said.
In addition, according to Red Star News, Thailand's highest-level security department, Thailand's domestic security operations command (ISOC), said that the Thai side does not have any private companies, let alone invest in any companies. The so-called Thai royal background, even more unlikely, "the word Thai royal (royal family) is open to registration in the Thai Department of Commerce, and any business can be registered".
So who is behind Thailand Luckin?
There are all kinds of indications that Thai Luckin Coffee is very friendly to the Chinese who go to consume.
The owner, Rocky, was generous and met with Chinese discounts. In April 2021, a consumer wrote this review on the domestic review platform Dianping after spending at Luckin Coffee on Bangkok's Ratchachara Phiserk Road.
Another consumer said that the store was said not to be a Chinese Luckin and had nothing to do with a Chinese Luckin, but it was legal in Thailand. In particular, she praised the slogans around the café, "It's so interesting, the owner is talented." In the ** it shared, on a blue-background sign, there is a slogan written in both Chinese and Thai languages: "Non-Luckin Coffee customer members do not consume parking, and worship Buddha is not working".
Fang Ming had only seen a Luckin coffee shop in Thailand, but he was confident that Luckin Thailand was doing business for Chinese tourists or Chinese living in Thailand.
He believes that the slogan above, in the eyes of the Thais, "will be inexplicable", is actually a trick to win the favor of the Chinese. "Besides, most Thais don't know about Luckin. The store is located in the surrounding area centered on the Chinese Embassy, and people who come to Thailand from China like to live there, and Chinese companies such as Huawei also gather there. The intent is obvious. ”
In any case, the people behind Luckin Thailand are at least very familiar with the consumption habits of Chinese.
The above-mentioned person, who claims to be a shareholder of Thai Luckin, may not be so tenable to disclose that the shareholders of Thai Luckin are Chinese and Thai. According to reports, the DBD information of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand shows that Royal Thai 50R Group*** and Luckin Coffee (Thailand)** are both Sino-Thai joint venturesThere are both Thai and Chinese, and the shareholders of the two companies overlap.
As a former lawyer with many years of experience, Fang Ming checked the registration information of Luckin Coffee (Thailand) Company in Thailand and found that the director's name was in the form of Hanyu Pinyin, which is a Chinese name.
Early in the morning of December 20th, Yang Fei, co-founder of Luckin Coffee, saw the topic of Luckin Coffee hanging on the headline of Weibo's hot search list, and posted on the circle of friends, "Thailand's fake Luckin is really good, and I have to swipe my dropper card now." The tone seemed to be half self-deprecating, half helpless.
He probably didn't expect that less than 20 days after receiving the losing judgment in the trademark dispute with Thailand Luckin, he was claimed 10 billion baht by Thailand Luckin.
In fact, the fight between China's Luckin and Thailand's Luckin began as early as 2021.
According to reports, according to information from Thailand's intellectual property rights and international courts, China's Luckin Coffee sued two Thai companies over trademark issues in 2021.
The reason is that when China's Luckin Coffee planned to open "Luckin Coffee" in Thailand with the image of an artificial deer as the trademark, it found that a number of identical or similar trademarks had been registered by the two companies. China Luckin demanded that the other party cancel its trademark registration and stop using these trademarks.
At the same time, the impact of trademark issues began to emerge and spread in the market. In January 2022, a consumer posted on social platforms, saying that he bought Luckin Coffee in Thailand, but found that the deer head of the trademark was in the opposite direction. The article attracted the official account of Luckin Coffee, which posted several "black question mark" emojis in the comments, expressing shock.
Two days later, Luckin Coffee refuted the rumors on its official account, "Thank you for the love of your Thai friends, but not all deer are called Luckin." In August 2022, Luckin Coffee once again publicly issued a statement, saying that the Luckin store in Thailand was a counterfeit store.
In the ** announced by netizens, the decoration, logo, coffee cups, and handbags of Thai Luckin stores are very similar to Chinese Luckin CoffeeOnly the deer head in the logo is in the opposite direction, the deer of Luckin Coffee in China looks to the right, and the deer of Luckin Coffee in Thailand looks to the left.
On November 24, 2022, the Thai court announced the first-instance judgment and ruled in favor of China Luckin. On March 24, 2023, 50R Group filed an appeal. In early December, there were public reports that China's Luckin had lost the case.
In an interview with Red Star News, a lawyer from Mandarin Law Firm said that there was no trademark cooperation agreement between China and Thailand, and according to the provisions of the Thai Trademark Law, Thailand Luckin was the first to apply for registration and use it with the local trademark office, and it had the right to use the trademark to engage in business related to this field in Thailand.
In addition, 50R Group's documents show that in 2020, it had legally registered the Luckin trademark with the Thai Ministry of Commerce, and everything was handled in accordance with the rules and procedures of Thai law, and it was allowed to use the trademark to operate a coffee shop business that sells beverages such as tea and coffee.
Since the end of 2020, Thailand Luckin has opened a number of physical coffee stores in Thailand and is in normal operation. In the lawyer's view, this has become an important basis for the Thai court to determine that Thailand Luckin applied first, rather than in bad faith, which is the decisive factor in China's Luckin losing the lawsuit.
In the complaint submitted to the court on the 19th, 50R Group alleged that China Luckin had damaged the business reputation of 50R Group, and before the court made a final judgment, China Luckin had repeatedly forced the plaintiff to stop using the trademark and forcibly seized the other party's property several times.
According to reports50R said it had planned to expand to more than 10,000 coffee shops worldwide in a short period of time and prepare to go public. China Luckin's actions led to the disruption of its plans, causing it to suffer serious financial losses, resulting in a claim of 9 billion baht.
China Luckin also authorized the entrusting person to illegally seize the property in the coffee shop of the 50R Group before the court judgment, causing it to suffer serious humiliation and losses, for which the claim 99.5 billion baht;In addition, the claim for attorney's fees retained by 50R Group is 00.5 billion baht. The above three items total 10 billion baht.
Is the allegation of Thailand Luckin true?How will Luckin Coffee respond to the accusations and huge claims?What is the global trademark registration plan and progress of Luckin Coffee?"China Entrepreneur" contacted Luckin Coffee about the above questions, but as of press time, no reply has been received.
The above-mentioned person who claimed to be a shareholder of Thai coffee, after a brief greeting, sent a paragraph to "Chinese Entrepreneur" after more than ten minutes, which seemed to be a response to the previous topic about investment in Thailand, but it was quite intriguing
Thailand is a very free soil. In the words of CP Group, everyone must learn to follow the local customs, and foreigners must follow Chinese customs and culture and abide by the law when they go to ChinaForeigners come to Thailand for the same reason, not because they think they are a big company and bully small ......This is also the reason why the older generation of overseas Chinese can develop in Thailand under such difficult conditions. ”
In Fang Ming's opinion,The two parties negotiated privately that the purchase of the Thai Luckin trademark by China Luckin was a solution.
This is also a good deal for Thai Luckin. Fang Ming is not optimistic about the development of Thai Luckin in the Thai market. According to him, the Thai coffee culture is very mature and the market is very saturated. Thailand not only has its own local coffee chain brand Café Amazon, but also many online celebrity coffee shops, specialty coffee shops, and even small shops like bubble tea stalls on the street, which are not only delicious, but also cheap. Thai Luckin is not competitive enough in Thailand.
Luckin Coffee is not the first company to lose money on its trademark. There are not a few cases of disputes arising from trademarks and lawsuits that have been fought for several years. In the coffee and tea industry, it is the tea face that tastes the bitterness of being registered before Luckin Coffee is the first to taste the trademark registration.
Previously, a person familiar with the matter revealed to "Chinese Entrepreneur" that because of its unique design, popular brand image and products, "copycat versions" often appear all over the country. However, in addition to the base camp of Changsha, there are very few stores in other cities.
What is surprising is that in October 2018, Chayan Yuese suddenly appeared on the streets of South Korea, and the brand, logo, and cup design style are similar to Changsha's Chayan Yuese. This is a tea and joy milk tea shop opened by international students in South Korea, but "it is not a franchise", and they publicly declared that "the boss worked hard to find a way to buy the materials of the tea and joy color home......The taste is very close", and also preemptively registered the Korean trademark of Chayan Yuese.
In April 2019, Chayan Yuese's official Weibo posted: "We have learned about the preemptive registration of Chayan Yuese's Korean trademark by international students going to South Korea, and the other party's behavior is legal, and we have no right to interfere." I'm sorry that we didn't do enough to protect the trademark before, which caused a lot of regrets, and thank you very much for the reminder and maintenance of fans. ”
In 2023, there will be a surging craze for Chinese tea and coffee brands to "go overseas". Just looking at the results of December, it is enough for consumers to feel this wave: on December 4, Nai Xue's tea announced the opening of its first store in Bangkok, Thailand;On December 8, Cudi Coffee's first store in Thailand was officially opened, and earlier this year, Cudi Coffee's footprint has reached South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, and North AmericaOn December 9, Heytea opened its first store in the United States, which is the fifth country that Heytea has reached this year.
Tang Yi, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Division of the Commercial Legal Service Center of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that in the process of Chinese enterprises "going global", the risk of trademark squatting is still relatively high. Especially with the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, some brands and products in China have attracted attention and love, and trademark squatting has occurred from time to time.
Tang Yi reminded,Enterprises should make arrangements in advance and try to submit patent applications in more certain target market countriesAt the same time, we should make good use of international cooperation mechanisms and international agreements, such as the Madrid Agreement, PCT, Hague Agreement, etc., and through advance layout and corresponding procedures, trademarks and patents can be protected in many countries and regions.
However, with the rise of the "going global" trend, Chinese consumer companies have also begun to strengthen the protection of trademarks and patents on a global scale. Cudi Coffee told "Chinese Entrepreneurs" that they attach great importance to trademarks and have submitted trademark registration applications in various countries in advance.
In this regard, Young Master Xi is quite experienced. Founded in 2014, Master Xi has set the vision of "making Master West's services all over the world" since its establishment.
Meng Bing, the founder of Master Xi, previously told "Chinese Entrepreneur" that in the second year of the company's establishment, Master Xi began to register trademarks in various countries around the world, and encountered different difficulties in the markets of various countries until 2018, when all the registration work was completed around the world.
Period,Master Xi also had an intersection with Microsoft. Master Xi's global brand "Bingz" is quite similar to Microsoft's Bing's "Bing", and after Master Xi completed the registration of "BingZ" in countries around the world, Microsoft failed to register "Bing" in some countries. Microsoft approached Master Xi for negotiation, and finally the two sides reconciled, and Master West gave up his trademark in some areas. For this, Microsoft paid a fee to Master West.
In any case, the loss suffered by Luckin Coffee has sounded a wake-up call for the consumer companies who are gearing up to "go to sea" - to go to sea, the trademark goes first, and protects their IP in advance.
The Chinese side in the article is a pseudonym).