Chery angrily denounces Mercedes-Benz's new energy trademark infringement

Chery Automobile previously launched a micro pure electric product, eQ, on November 5, 2014. In 2016, Mercedes-Benz officially announced its new pure electric vehicle sub-brand, EQ; according to the plan, Mercedes-Benz's first pure electric SUV model will be officially put into production in its factory in Bremen, Germany in 2018.

Recently, Netcom learned from Chery Automobile that Chery has formally submitted materials to the International Division of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce to apply for arbitration, raising objections to Mercedes-Benz's application for registration of the "EQ" new energy trademark. The reason for the appeal is that the trademark is similar to the already registered "Chery eQ", which seriously infringes Chery's prior rights and violates the relevant provisions of the "Trademark Law" and the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law", and should not be approved for registration.

The following content is issued by Chery Automobile:

As a company that has been registered and used in China for two years and has launched products to form economies of scale, Chery eQ has put forward several grounds in its arbitration application. The main reasons include:

1. Mercedes-Benz "EQ" and "Chery eQ" are similar trademarks for the same or similar goods, which do not comply with the relevant provisions of Article 30 of the Trademark Law and should not be approved for registration. Although "Chery eQ" and Mercedes-Benz "EQ" have slight differences in uppercase and lowercase letters, according to the relevant provisions of the Trademark Examination Standards published in 2016 on trademark similarity examination: "Trademarks composed of the same foreign language, letters or numbers, with only different fonts or designs, which are likely to cause the relevant public to misunderstand the source of goods or services, are judged to be similar trademarks."

2. The goods designated for use by Mercedes-Benz "EQ" and "Chery eQ" constitute identical or similar goods (electric vehicle products), which are extremely likely to cause confusion and misunderstanding among consumers and should not be approved for registration.

3. Daimler is a world-renowned automobile company that has entered China for a long time and has a deep understanding of the Chinese automobile market. It should pay attention to the use and promotion of the "Chery eQ" trademark. Knowing that Chery has used the eQ trademark first and has a certain influence, it still applied to register the EQ trademark, which constitutes the situation stipulated in Article 32 of the Trademark Law that "the application for trademark registration shall not infringe on the existing prior rights of others, nor shall it use unfair means to preemptively register trademarks that have been used by others and have a certain influence", and the registration shall not be approved.

To be fair, in recent years, there have been many cases where domestic brands have been sued by foreign brands for trademark infringement, but it is very rare for domestic brands to take up the weapon of rights protection and sue foreign brands. The case of Chery eQ suing Mercedes-Benz EQ may become the focus of attention in the industry.

Chery eQ originated from Chery QQ brand. After QQ car has been sold well for more than ten years and has become a well-known brand, Chery launched the pure electric version of QQ car in 2014. In order to distinguish the pure electric version from the traditional gasoline engine version, Chery named the pure electric version of QQ Electric QQ, and for the convenience of consumers' memory, identification and market promotion, it is abbreviated as "eQ". On June 11, 2014, Chery Automobile formally applied for registration of the "Chery eQ" trademark, and it was approved for registration on July 21, 2015.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.