The Chinese trademark authority rejected Tesla Motor’s application for the trademark “Tesla” because trademark law in China is based on a “first to file” regime. The same issue arose for Apple. Inc. in 2011 when Apple introduced its tablet iPad to China. A Chinese company named Proview Technology had registered the trademark “IPAD” prior to Apple’s application to register the mark. In the course of a few months, Proview obtained injunctions from Chinese courts to seize infringing articles and prevented Apple from selling iPad in China. Ultimately, Apple had to pay a steep price to settle with Proview- 60 million dollars!
And so a ridiculous process of offering increasingly stupid amounts of money to Chinese trademark squatter has begun, where Zhen made a smooth transition from opportunistic entrepreneur to a greedy tradmark extortionist.
Tesla Motors reportedly offered Zhan $326,000 to buy his trademark registration, but Zhan rejected the offer and countered, demanding approximately 3 million dollars.
If anyone was in any doubt that China is completely incapable of innovating, and can only copy western ideas, knocking them out for a Chinese market at half the cost it's this particular escapade. Not content with "being clever" and demanding unreasonable amounts of money for a trademark that doesn't yet sell any Chinese products in China, Zhen is taking advantage of China's 3-year Chinese Trademark law (trademark holders have 3 years to actually get a product onto the market with the registered name) to get fund together to sell...electric cars.
Read more at the Canada IP Blog.
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