Latest news with #trademarks
South China Morning Post
7 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Pop Mart sues 7-Eleven store owners in US, alleging Labubu trademark infringements
Chinese toymaker Pop Mart International is suing several 7-Eleven store operators in California for selling alleged counterfeits of its signature Labubu merchandise and infringing on its trademarks. Advertisement The group's Beijing, Singapore and US-based units, which hold the trademarks and copyrights, are seeking injunctions to stop 7-Eleven Inc and seven convenience store owners or franchisees from continuing to commit the offence, according to the July 18 complaint in a California district court. It is also seeking to disgorge their profits, punitive damages and costs of the lawsuit. Pop Mart confirmed the lawsuit on Thursday, without providing details on the timeline for the proceedings. 'Despite its rights and ability to control and exercise approval over franchisees, 7-Eleven has failed to utilise this control to prevent and stop the counterfeiting and infringement of Pop Mart's trademarks, trade dress and copyrights,' according to the complaint. 02:08 Labubu creator Kasing Lung shares the vision behind his unique plush toys Labubu creator Kasing Lung shares the vision behind his unique plush toys Pop Mart's Labubu dolls – mischievous, elfin figures with serrated teeth – have become a global sensation, helped by publicity generated by celebrity fans including David Beckham . Its success was also built on 'blind boxes' aimed at creating a sense of mystery, helping propel sales to more than US$1.8 billion globally in 2024.
Forbes
12-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Even A.I. Might Not Be Able To Save These New Style Trademarks
North American and European brands have been successfully selling made-in-China goods for decades. It was probably inevitable that many of its small factories would become direct online sellers, perhaps in competition with their former customers. But the trademarks that many of them have been using may not be helping them crack the market. American companies – and startups are certainly no different – give a lot of thought to the best mark, which will personify their product, using a name which helps it to sell, yet also distinguishes it from its competition. All companies should also search their marks to be sure they do not come too close to a potential competitor which may demand a name change, or worse, threaten to sue. Many Chinese startups have taken a different path. They are adopting made-up names which bear little resemblance to the traditional English or Romance language sounding words we usually see. Consider this random assortment I came up with: 'Lvrigfpro' for pharmaceuticals 'Matdg' for jewelry 'Mahcscha' for beach towels 'Bfxlmki' for paintings and paper 'Haisiwlkj' for furniture covers 'RabvPerce' for toys A number of these brands are setting new paradigms by using a combination of consonants and vowels which don't follow familiar patterns, making them arguably a little difficult to recognize and to pronounce. These contrast sharply with now-household names of many Chinese brands with a gigantic U.S. presence – brands such as: 'Tik Tok' 'Alibaba' 'Huawei' 'Shein' 'Haier' Pronunciation can always be a challenge for brands coming into the U.S. from overseas. All of the well-known brands listed above are capable of a pronunciation in English, largely because they still follow certain rules which combine consonants and vowels in a way that makes them understandable, even if initially pronunciation is unclear. Words have a certain flow, creating a kind of familiarity so that made-up words can sound like and be pronounced like a word in the English language. These marks follow the rules in a way that the other marks above which I randomly selected do not. Words are formed of syllables, and syllables are composed of a combination of consonants. The reader needs to build up a 'beat,' and words which are readily recognized will march to that beat. Interestingly, companies could save time and money in the trademark creation process by coming up with something that feels unfamiliar, like 'Haisiwlkj.' One interesting aspect of these marks is that while I always counsel startup companies to adopt a mark that they will be able to protect and to register in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it is also desirable that the words look, appear and sound different from anything already in use in traditional terms; this equates to a stronger, more distinctive trademark. The chances of running into another mark already used with a similar appearance, sound and meaning seem small. So, two of the three goals of brand name creation are fulfilled: (1) first, do no harm (avoid conflicting with others); (2) get something you can protect (make it distinctive as possible); (3) as for the third, which is 'pick a name that will sell the product' – maybe not so much. (Marketers accuse lawyers of preferring 1 and 2 over 3, and in many cases, they're not wrong. What's the use of having a mark if it doesn't help actually sell the product?) The great inherent value to using the right word for a brand is the benefit of projecting the right image, taking into account an enormous range of cultural preferences which range from the literal messages words or portions of words suggest, to a sound of familiarity which elicits good or positive feelings, or reflects certain values. All of that is lost in brand names which are not only fanciful creations, but which fail to send a message to a consumer who is busy trying to figure out exactly what the word is and how you would pronounce it. Given the roles trademarks play in conveying meaning or evoking emotion, these new marks may be losing out on the main branding opportunity. The U.S. market has since the very beginning featured 'foreign' products, and often many of those products have had the greatest of prestige. Not all of them have been inherently easy for American consumers to pronounce, whether from Europe, Asia, or elsewhere. But they have had a certain common element to them much more familiar to the American and English language speaker's ear than this newest generation of trademarks. Over time, people become accustomed to and comfortable with new things. Will these neologisms start to sound familiar once there are enough of them in everyday use, or will they fade in favor of more traditional sounding words? There's always a back story. The explosion in trademark applications from China in recent years has actually been well documented. Lawyers who practice regularly in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also recognize certain patterns among some segment of these applications. A word is created, and a web page is thrown together to show the product being offered for sale. Many of these applications are accused of being filed simply to try to reserve rights, and names are even more blatantly just to get applications on file in the Trademark Office for the benefit of certain subsidies that were being offered by the Chinese government to obtain U.S. trademark registration protection. The flood of these offbeat names in the Trademark Office has its own story. Official investigations by the United States Patent and Trademark Office have indicated the Chinese government, at every level from national to local, has incentivized companies to seek to develop and protect their brands abroad, including in the U.S.A. In many cases some government agency paid the bill not only for the cost of applications in the Trademark Office, but even allowed the trademark owner to end up with a surplus for each trademark application they file in the United States. Over the past few years, the Trademark Office has even taken some enforcement actions where it has found that some of these practices violate the good faith rule that any application exhibits a 'bona fide intent' to use the mark in the United States. Will American consumers accept and become familiar with these names and come to appreciate them as trusted brands? Or is this only a phase during which time these non-U.S. marketers and non-English language natives are making an all-out assault to project and protect brand names into the United States for their own purposes? Putting aside the tariffs in the room, it would otherwise seem that direct-to-consumer marketing from these small China-based enterprises which formerly relied on U.S. entities to sell their wares is not likely to die down. They presumably will change their branding habits – through time, experience, and maybe even the assistance of A.I. – to develop words and names that look more like the types of familiar terms that will motivate American shoppers to trust those brands and remember the names. You might say that this process will be more consonant with consumer expectations.
Forbes
12-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Even A.I. Might Not Be Able To Save These New Style
North American and European brands have been successfully selling made-in-China goods for decades. It was probably inevitable that many of its small factories would become direct online sellers, perhaps in competition with their former customers. But the trademarks that many of them have been using may not be helping them crack the market. American companies – and startups are certainly no different – give a lot of thought to the best mark, which will personify their product, using a name which helps it to sell, yet also distinguishes it from its competition. All companies should also search their marks to be sure they do not come too close to a potential competitor which may demand a name change, or worse, threaten to sue. Many Chinese startups have taken a different path. They are adopting made-up names which bear little resemblance to the traditional English or Romance language sounding words we usually see. Consider this random assortment I came up with: 'Lvrigfpro' for pharmaceuticals 'Matdg' for jewelry 'Mahcscha' for beach towels 'Bfxlmki' for paintings and paper 'Haisiwlkj' for furniture covers 'RabvPerce' for toys A number of these brands are setting new paradigms by using a combination of consonants and vowels which don't follow familiar patterns, making them arguably a little difficult to recognize and to pronounce. These contrast sharply with now-household names of many Chinese brands with a gigantic U.S. presence – brands such as: 'Tik Tok' 'Alibaba' 'Huawei' 'Shein' 'Haier' Pronunciation can always be a challenge for brands coming into the U.S. from overseas. All of the well-known brands listed above are capable of a pronunciation in English, largely because they still follow certain rules which combine consonants and vowels in a way that makes them understandable, even if initially pronunciation is unclear. Words have a certain flow, creating a kind of familiarity so that made-up words can sound like and be pronounced like a word in the English language. These marks follow the rules in a way that the other marks above which I randomly selected do not. Words are formed of syllables, and syllables are composed of a combination of consonants. The reader needs to build up a 'beat,' and words which are readily recognized will march to that beat. Interestingly, companies could save time and money in the trademark creation process by coming up with something that feels unfamiliar, like 'Haisiwlkj.' One interesting aspect of these marks is that while I always counsel startup companies to adopt a mark that they will be able to protect and to register in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it is also desirable that the words look, appear and sound different from anything already in use in traditional terms; this equates to a stronger, more distinctive trademark. The chances of running into another mark already used with a similar appearance, sound and meaning seem small. So, two of the three goals of brand name creation are fulfilled: (1) first, do no harm (avoid conflicting with others); (2) get something you can protect (make it distinctive as possible); (3) as for the third, which is 'pick a name that will sell the product' – maybe not so much. (Marketers accuse lawyers of preferring 1 and 2 over 3, and in many cases, they're not wrong. What's the use of having a mark if it doesn't help actually sell the product?) The great inherent value to using the right word for a brand is the benefit of projecting the right image, taking into account an enormous range of cultural preferences which range from the literal messages words or portions of words suggest, to a sound of familiarity which elicits good or positive feelings, or reflects certain values. All of that is lost in brand names which are not only fanciful creations, but which fail to send a message to a consumer who is busy trying to figure out exactly what the word is and how you would pronounce it. Given the roles trademarks play in conveying meaning or evoking emotion, these new marks may be losing out on the main branding opportunity. The U.S. market has since the very beginning featured 'foreign' products, and often many of those products have had the greatest of prestige. Not all of them have been inherently easy for American consumers to pronounce, whether from Europe, Asia, or elsewhere. But they have had a certain common element to them much more familiar to the American and English language speaker's ear than this newest generation of trademarks. Over time, people become accustomed to and comfortable with new things. Will these neologisms start to sound familiar once there are enough of them in everyday use, or will they fade in favor of more traditional sounding words? There's always a back story. The explosion in trademark applications from China in recent years has actually been well documented. Lawyers who practice regularly in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also recognize certain patterns among some segment of these applications. A word is created, and a web page is thrown together to show the product being offered for sale. Many of these applications are accused of being filed simply to try to reserve rights, and names are even more blatantly just to get applications on file in the Trademark Office for the benefit of certain subsidies that were being offered by the Chinese government to obtain U.S. trademark registration protection. The flood of these offbeat names in the Trademark Office has its own story. Official investigations by the United States Patent and Trademark Office have indicated the Chinese government, at every level from national to local, has incentivized companies to seek to develop and protect their brands abroad, including in the U.S.A. In many cases some government agency paid the bill not only for the cost of applications in the Trademark Office, but even allowed the trademark owner to end up with a surplus for each trademark application they file in the United States. Over the past few years, the Trademark Office has even taken some enforcement actions where it has found that some of these practices violate the good faith rule that any application exhibits a 'bona fide intent' to use the mark in the United States. Will American consumers accept and become familiar with these names and come to appreciate them as trusted brands? Or is this only a phase during which time these non-U.S. marketers and non-English language natives are making an all-out assault to project and protect brand names into the United States for their own purposes? Putting aside the tariffs in the room, it would otherwise seem that direct-to-consumer marketing from these small China-based enterprises which formerly relied on U.S. entities to sell their wares is not likely to die down. They presumably will change their branding habits – through time, experience, and maybe even the assistance of A.I. – to develop words and names that look more like the types of familiar terms that will motivate American shoppers to trust those brands and remember the names. You might say that this process will be more consonant with consumer expectations.
CTV News
18-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
B.C. mall owner says she wanted to run stores more than she wanted Bay trademarks
Ruby Liu may have lost out on owning Hudson's Bay's name and all its trademarks, but she's not bitter because she's got designs on her own retail empire. The B.C. real estate maven is seeking court approval for her $6 million purchase of three leases for former Bay locations in malls she owns in the province. 'I wanted to buy the trademarks, but I also like operating actual retail stores more than having the trademarks,' she told The Canadian Press in an interview in Mandarin. 'Owning the Bay's trademark for me is just like being a manufacturer.' Liu's remarks come after a court approved the sale of the Bay name and its trademarks to Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. for $30 million at the start of the month. The decision gave the retailer, which also owns SportChek, Party City, Mark's and Pro Hockey Life, a vast trove of intellectual property belonging to Canada's oldest company. It includes rights to the Distinctly Home brand, its Hudson North apparel line and trademarks like 'Bay Days' and the Zellers catchphrase 'the lowest price is the law.' Liu, a Chinese entrepreneur who owns three B.C. malls, had made an offer for the trademarks in hopes of using them to revive the Bay. She faced competition from a dozen other people or companies bidding on the Bay's intellectual property, court documents have said. Other than Canadian Tire and Liu, only Toronto investment manager Urbana Corp. has publicly disclosed it was a bidder. 'When I competed with Canadian Tire, I had to pay more than $30 million and Canadian Tire is very rich,' Liu said of the bidding process, where she said she kept having to increase her offer price. Eventually, she realized she might have to spend $50 million to win the trademarks, so, she said, 'I gave up the bidding.' Hudson's Bay lawyers have said the retailer picked Canadian Tire because its bid was 'the highest and best offer resulting from a competitive process.' Financial advisers who helped on that deal said some of the offers received were indistinguishable, so they sought and obtained modifications to improve them where possible. Liu had better luck when she went up against 11 other parties vying for 39 leases belonging to the Bay and its sister Saks banners. The Bay chose her proposal to take over up to 28 in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. Anyone who made an offer for leases had to deposit 10 per cent of their estimated purchase price. Court documents show Liu made a deposit of $9.4 million on top of the $6 million for the three leases in her own malls, which would equate to a purchase price of $100 million. The transaction still needs court and landlord approval to move forward. Liu met with landlords in early June. Some have sent letters to Hudson's Bay seeking more information on her plans and outlining 'concerns,' court documents show. The records don't specify what the concerns are but say the Bay is 'hopeful that all matters can be resolved consensually.' In the meantime, it will ask a court on Monday to allow Liu to buy three leases at B.C. malls her Central Walk company owns — Tsawwassen Mills, Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Centre. Her plan is to use the spaces and any others she is able to secure to develop a modernized department store she'll name Ruby Liu and market with a scarlet jewel as its logo. Liu said it will sell products like clothing, jewelry and makeup but also have elements for entertainment, kids, seniors, fitness and cosplay — the practice of dressing up as fictional characters. The idea is not to 'just stick to the old ways.' 'I want to innovate,' she said. 'I want to combine the elements of eating, drinking, and having fun with my retail business.' It's unclear whether the leases she wants to take over allow for such activities or whether landlords would even permit them. If they agree to her plan, she'll first have to revamp the sites she is taking over. Many have broken escalators and are in need of repairs to indoor infrastructure as well as roofs and the outdoor facades. Liu estimates she will spend $30 million to get the spaces at the Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Center in tip-top shape, but said it's a necessary expense to executive on her vision. 'I want to change,' she said. 'I don't want my three stores to repeat what the Bay was doing.' This report by Tara Deschamps and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press, was first published July 18, 2025.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
B.C. mall owner says she wanted to run stores more than she wanted Bay trademarks
Ruby Liu may have lost out on owning Hudson's Bay's name and all its trademarks, but she's not bitter because she's got designs on her own retail empire. The B.C. real estate maven is seeking court approval for her $6 million purchase of three leases for former Bay locations in malls she owns in the province. 'I wanted to buy the trademarks, but I also like operating actual retail stores more than having the trademarks,' she told The Canadian Press in an interview in Mandarin. 'Owning the Bay's trademark for me is just like being a manufacturer.' Liu's remarks come after a court approved the sale of the Bay name and its trademarks to Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. for $30 million at the start of the month. The decision gave the retailer, which also owns SportChek, Party City, Mark's and Pro Hockey Life, a vast trove of intellectual property belonging to Canada's oldest company. It includes rights to the Distinctly Home brand, its Hudson North apparel line and trademarks like "Bay Days" and the Zellers catchphrase "the lowest price is the law." Liu, a Chinese entrepreneur who owns three B.C. malls, had made an offer for the trademarks in hopes of using them to revive the Bay. She faced competition from a dozen other people or companies bidding on the Bay's intellectual property, court documents have said. Other than Canadian Tire and Liu, only Toronto investment manager Urbana Corp. has publicly disclosed it was a bidder. 'When I competed with Canadian Tire, I had to pay more than $30 million and Canadian Tire is very rich," Liu said of the bidding process, where she said she kept having to increase her offer price. Eventually, she realized she might have to spend $50 million to win the trademarks, so, she said, "I gave up the bidding." Hudson's Bay lawyers have said the retailer picked Canadian Tire because its bid was "the highest and best offer resulting from a competitive process." Financial advisers who helped on that deal said some of the offers received were indistinguishable, so they sought and obtained modifications to improve them where possible. Liu had better luck when she went up against 11 other parties vying for 39 leases belonging to the Bay and its sister Saks banners. The Bay chose her proposal to take over up to 28 in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. Anyone who made an offer for leases had to deposit 10 per cent of their estimated purchase price. Court documents show Liu made a deposit of $9.4 million on top of the $6 million for the three leases in her own malls, which would equate to a purchase price of $100 million. The transaction still needs court and landlord approval to move forward. Liu met with landlords in early June. Some have sent letters to Hudson's Bay seeking more information on her plans and outlining "concerns," court documents show. The records don't specify what the concerns are but say the Bay is "hopeful that all matters can be resolved consensually." In the meantime, it will ask a court on Monday to allow Liu to buy three leases at B.C. malls her Central Walk company owns — Tsawwassen Mills, Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Centre. Her plan is to use the spaces and any others she is able to secure to develop a modernized department store she'll name Ruby Liu and market with a scarlet jewel as its logo. Liu said it will sell products like clothing, jewelry and makeup but also have elements for entertainment, kids, seniors, fitness and cosplay — the practice of dressing up as fictional characters. The idea is not to "just stick to the old ways." 'I want to innovate,' she said. 'I want to combine the elements of eating, drinking, and having fun with my retail business.' It's unclear whether the leases she wants to take over allow for such activities or whether landlords would even permit them. If they agree to her plan, she'll first have to revamp the sites she is taking over. Many have broken escalators and are in need of repairs to indoor infrastructure as well as roofs and the outdoor facades. Liu estimates she will spend $30 million to get the spaces at the Mayfair Shopping Centre and Woodgrove Center in tip-top shape, but said it's a necessary expense to executive on her vision. "I want to change," she said. "I don't want my three stores to repeat what the Bay was doing.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Tara Deschamps and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
