July 27, 2023
Despite being a US company, Amazon uses 36 tricks from Sun Tzu's Art of War "with skill", especially when it comes to trademark infringement in China. Today we are going to take a look at mischievous things that Amazon does!
First trick
The golden cicada bursts out of its shell, blurring its identity
If a company as big as Amazon wants to be naughty, of course they won't slap you like Wu Er Er next door. It's so simple and clear that you'll hand it over to magistrate. Who is who.
I was waiting for Xiaomin to register a trademark. Although I don't know anything about law, I also know truth that I can't let it go when someone has broken it. Be sure to find out who, where, when, what and what consequences are. This includes determining subject of trademark infringement, choosing place of application of law, regional protection of trademarks.
Since I found out that someone has same name as our Deep Lens camera, I have to check it out. After Baidu, I found that www.amazon.com website sells a camera with same name. Although it may currently only be sold in United States, introduction of an all-Chinese product is also suspicious, this thing is clearly aimed at domestic sales.
According to domain name request information provided by Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Technologies, Inc., registered in Reno, Nevada (Nevada), USA, registered www.amazon.com on November 1, 1994. The domain name of site and has appropriate rights. All information on Chinese web page points Amazon's registered city to Seattle, Washington, USA, but which one is registered in Reno, Nevada?
We are not familiar with situation abroad, so we can look in China, because Amazon also has a certain sales business and market in China. But hands of richest man in world are truly extraordinary. Enter China National Enterprise Credit Information Advertising System, enter three words Amazon, and we found following companies.
How about 1 head and 2 big ones? Who runs this site? Which entity manufactures and sells product? What is relationship between domestic and foreign countries and who is ultimate offender?
My daughter was taken advantage of by a bully from afar, and we don't even know who foreigner is!
Second trick
Cross sea and trust an inexpensive purchase
It actually takes a little comfort for me and other little people that Amazon prefers Deep Lens for my camera and goes by new name. This shows that we have vision. Will it be too shabby?
Unexpectedly, one day, company received a call from head of a company registered in Shunyi (the company name is not mentioned) and expressed a desire to acquire a number of intellectual property rights, such as trademarks and domain names. , Idea, and very generously gave package price, 30,000 yuan.
What?
Are you kidding?
Is that too offensive? !
If you want to buy, just say so! Do you want to fool our trademark by finding a small front company?
Third move
The application for registration is invalid
Amazon, which has no hope of buying at a low price, will naturally not give up and will destroy it if it cannot get it. Their methods have become more vicious.
According to EAnfang, on January 19, 2019, Beijing XXX received an additional notice of content: Notice of Acceptance by Trademark Office to lift Deep Lens' ban on registered trademarks for three consecutive years.
Third Trademark Revocation
This refers to a situation where a trademark is withdrawn due to non-use for three consecutive years. Any business unit or individual may file a revocation with Trademark Office.
Deep Lens trademark received a "third trademark revocation" application. Who applied, we do not know and do not dare to ask. But result was good, and application was rejected. After all, they used it well, so why do you say that you didn’t use it.
The fourth trick
Create something from nothing with essence of trademark
If encroachment fails, Amazon will do it on its own. If trademark you want to register has already been registered, then apply for registration of same trademark again, even if it has nothing to do with your business. So, we saw how a high-tech multinational company with business around world, claiming big data and cloud computing, registered a trademark for electrical switches and transformers in People's Republic of China, which is neither fish nor meat.
On April 22, 2019, I went to official website of State Trademark Office, and there were several more related trademark applications. The screenshot looks like this:
If you want to hit edge of ball, this is a really good way to make something out of nothing. If you own DEEPLENS trademark, it applies for AWS DEEPLENS! But now let's take a look at backstory of these two companies, Sima Zhao's heart is fully revealed.
The Fifth Technique
Borrowing a knife to kill, using relationships to attack opponents
As a large international company, Amazon is very confident in its ability to drive economy. Based on her American heritage and size influence, she always believes that government should let government take care of Amazon. Even use of various relationships, reporting of illegal operations of opponents, and even use of public safety methods have become commonplace for Amazon. Earlier this year, rumors of Amazon founder's hoax were all over sky. Bezos used his own relationships to investigate and monitor weekly magazine that reported news, leading to magazine's closure less than a week after news. was published.
The sixth trick
Be aware of changes, watch out for your opponent's mistakes
According to Easy Security, on April 20, 2019, mainstream media reported on revision of Trademark Law, which is directly related to so-called "three trademark withdrawals". in branch.
From a legal point of view, attempt to ascertain and analyze intentions of parties is useful for revising social norms and behavior, but once it comes to stage of legislation and judgment, facts must be used as a basis. Reason. Apart from blurring focus and Facts are useless as accidents.
The "Third Trademark Cancellation Clause" is an extremely controversial clause in trademark law practice. It differs from principle of "who argues, who proves" in traditional civil proceedings. The burden of proof is not required. The trademark owner bears entire burden of proof, including initiators of “three revocations”, trademark administrations, and courts, all of which review evidence. Although owner of actual use of trademark is most obvious, with such a one-sided burden of proof, pressure of proof for trademark owner is very high.
Due to limited business environment, weak awareness of rights protection, careless collection of evidence of use, weak risk tolerance, etc., possibility of its use is relatively small, or volume, time and intensity of use is relatively small. During third procedure, it is also easy to obtain trademark revocation due to difficulty of actively participating in case procedure due to timing issues, address changes and weak financial resources.
Legislative provisions do not limit number and time of "withdrawal", that is, theoretically, applicant can mention "withdrawal" an infinite number of times, and can also choose frequency and intensity. At present, cost of trademark cancellation for three applicants is extremely low (the official fee is 500 yuan), compared with this, cost of creditor will be much higher, and he will spend a lot of effort and material resources to collect When right holder is relatively strong and right holder is weak, right holder may not be able to withstand consumption of labor and material resources, resulting in trademark cancellation.
Also, in extreme cases, actual backdoor applicant may file multiple revocation applications through multiple agencies or other entities, and Trademark Office will also send multiple response notices. Lack of one of protection notices will result in loss of opportunity to protect, which will ultimately result in loss of trademark rights.
Further reading
Link to Easy Security 1 news
In December 2017, French Ministry of Economy filed a lawsuit against Amazon seeking a $11.8 million fine from Amazon for abusing its market position to suppress suppliers.
Link to Easy Security 2 news
As of April 22, 2019, China Judgment Documents Network has completed 2,348 cases involving Amazon, including 70 trademark exclusivity cases, 106 registered trademark cases, 56 registered trademark exclusivity cases, and 45 similar trademark cases. signs. Simply put, Amazon has become a depression in management of intellectual property rights in China.
Link to Easy Security 3 news
July 17, 2018 Beijing Yanhuang Yingdong Technology Development Co., Ltd. released a statement that Beijing Higher People's Court has formally accepted her company's lawsuit against Amazon.com and Sinnet for using "AWS" logo without permission. violation cases. From announcement it follows that on July 9, Beijing Higher People's Court accepted case for consideration. Beijing Yanhuang Yingdong Technology Development Co., Ltd. asked court to order defendant to stop using "AWS" or similar logos in commercial transactions, jointly compensate its economic loss of 300 million yuan, and publish it in China Intellectual Property News. "remedial action statement. The announcement was subsequently confirmed by Douban, Sohu News, Phoenix Finance, and other media outlets.
