BEIJING, Dec. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the trademark ownership case of "Aigo mobile power" has come to a close. The State Trademark Bureau ultimately decided that the "Aigo" brand in the mobile power category is attributable to Aigo Group, and other companies and individuals shall not use "Aigo" brand in their mobile power category. Up to this point, the defending war for mobile power trademark between "Aigo" and "Scud" that had lasted for one year and a half finally ended with Aigo Company's win. Aigo successfully defended the "Aigo" brand it has assiduously operated for many years.
Hot selling of Aigo mobile power draws the competitors' covetousness
Both Aigo and Scud are the earliest star enterprises in China's IT industry. For a long time, their businesses are completely different. Then how the trademark dispute arose between the two companies?
As one of the national leading enterprises in China, Aigo Group started out from computer accessories in 1993, and after years of development and production of MP3, digital cameras and other products, gradually developed into the current product structure relying mainly on mobile storage, digital audio and intelligent wearable equipment. Owing to its own efforts, Aigo has won the trust and affirmation of a large number of users, and has a great influence in the market. Consequently, "Aigo", "Aiguozhe" and other brands also became well-recognized electronics brands among consumers.
Mobile power product line is one of the core businesses of Aigo Electronics (which is a product subsidiary of Aigo Group, mainly responsible for hardware product development and production of Aigo Group, and the products mainly adopt the brands of "Aigo" and "Aiguozhe"), which appeared in Aigo Group product business as early as in 2006. Following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Aigo donated thousands of solar mobile power to support disaster relief work. By 2012, Aigo electric business platform comprehensively stretched out, and it only took six months for it to become Jingdong mobile power product sales champion. However, the hot selling of Aigo mobile power also attracted some rivals who wanted to take a free ride of other national brands to speculate. Among them, Scud Company used the "patriot (Aiguozhe, the original complex form of simplified Aiguozhe characters)" trademark to produce mobile power and then propagated the product by simplified "Aigo (Aiguozhe)" in the market. Subsequently, Aigo Group and Scud competed in two dimensions of trademark arbitration and legal level, which was referred to as the Chinese brand's "gulf war" by the media.
In 2014, Scud Company suddenly launched mobile power products named "patriot Aiguozhe". The products' external package mentioned "Aigo Group" and "Aigo Company" for many times, and intended to desalt the real producer. In Jingdong, Suning, Tmall platform and their official websites, Scud Company used simplified character "Aigo" or similar marks alone or distinctly to promote and sell their mobile power products, thus causing incorrect cognition in a large number of consumers and users.
After finding this situation, Aigo Company issued a statement on Aigo's electronic official platform, calling for the consumers and media to get a clear identity of "Aigo" trademark. At the same time, Aigo Company filed a formal lawsuit against Scud Power Supply (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd, hoping to maintain the Aigo goodwill and the consumers' rights and interests. However, from April 2014 to now for more than a year, Scud has still been producing and selling their "patriot mobile power" products, and misleading consumers to buy the products, which has caused a huge impact and economic losses to Aigo Company in terms of sales and brand.
More seriously, even after being found by Aigo Company infringing on the trademark, Scud did not carry out any rectification or reformation yet, further confusing the facts and misleading the consumers. What is far worse, its customer service representatives claimed that "aigo is not the genuine product", and "aigo is the fake Aiguozhe", even after a number of consumers found the mobile power supplies purchased by them were the "patriot" products made by Scud Power (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. instead of their familiar "aigo".
Recently, aigo has sent letters to various major e-commerce websites, claiming the exclusive right of "aigo" trademark in its categories of mobile power supply, appealing for removing the so-called "patriot mobile power supply" produced by other companies out of the shelves, and protecting their own rights and interests and the consumer's interests by resorting to legal means.
The trademark of "aigo" has always belonged to Aigo Group. Early on September 6, 1996, the predecessor of Aigo Group, Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd. applied for the trademark of "aigo", and obtained the approval for registration on September 28, 1997. Since the registration of the trademark of "aigo", Aigo Group has consistently invested tremendous manpower and material resources in publicity and use. The trademark "aigo" has been widely used in various series of products, including mobile power supply. Just because of the strict persistence of the quality, "aigo" has been identified as a "Well-known Brand in China" by the SAIC (the State Administration of Industry and Commerce) in 2006.
After more than 20 years of industrious efforts, the popularity and influence of the "aigo" trademark has garnered high recognition among consumers, the relevant departments of the State, authoritative industry associations and organizations. "Aigo" brand has won the favor of the public using the mobile storage and other computer peripheral equipment products, and its mobile power supply products are most broadly acclaimed among the public. It is very unfortunate that aigo, a "Well-known Brand in China", is plundered maliciously of the goodwill by its peer company.
At present, Aigo Group is lodging a complaint against Scud's trademark infringement and unfair competition which is pending. Aigo Company will protect itself depending on the law from others' encroaching upon the company's legitimate interests and consumers' rights and interests. At the same time, Aigo Group has also called on the Chinese enterprises to mainly focus on creating their own faithful brand and innovation rather than taking the "shortcuts". Aigo advocates honesty all the time. Aigo Good Faith Alliance System established in recent years has been implemented throughout the country and keeps growing vigorously. Aigo will set an actual example and make all possible efforts to create a fair market environment, purify the competitive behavior together with other national enterprises.
An enterprise's continuous development depends on good faith. When an enterprise loses the foundation of good faith, it also loses the market and the public's recognition. Hereby we summon all Chinese enterprises to respect intellectual property rights, compete on an equal footing, and win together based on integrity!
SOURCE Aigo
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