What is a Firefly Phone?

Xiamen Donglin Electronics Co., Ltd. was established in February 1995. The company has registered more than ten kinds of text or graphic trademarks such as "FIREFLY", "Fireflies" and "Donglin", and has established a comprehensive brand strategic plan

firefly

(trademark)

discuss

Xiamen Donglin Electronics Co., Ltd. was established in February 1995. The company has registered more than ten kinds of text or graphic trademarks such as "FIREFLY", "Fireflies" and "Donglin", and has established a comprehensive brand strategic plan

Chinese name

firefly

Foreign name

Firefly

Nature

trademark

Affiliation

Xiamen Donglin Electronics Co., Ltd.

Established

February 1995

Xiamen Donglin Electronics Co., Ltd. was established in February 1995. The company has registered more than ten kinds of text or graphic trademarks such as "FIREFLY", "Fireflies" and "Donglin", and has established a comprehensive brand strategic plan.

In the domestic market, the company is the mainstream supplier of large-scale retail supermarket groups such as Wal-Mart, Metro, Carrefour, and Haoduo. It has entered more than 630 supermarkets worldwide and formed a sales network based on large-scale chain retail supermarkets, occupying mainstream supermarket consumption. market. After years of promotion, the "Fireflies" brand products have been widely recognized by consumers, so they have also been awarded "National Quality Inspection-Free Products", "Top Ten Famous Brands in China's Lighting Industry", "China's Famous Selling Brands" and "Fujian Famous Brands" "Products" and "Famous Famous Trademarks of Fujian Province", "Xiamen Key Export Enterprises", "Famous Trademarks of Xiamen City", "Top Ten Creative Trademarks Favored by Consumers in Xiamen City" and other honorary titles.

In the world's energy shortage situation, Donglin Electronics Co., Ltd. is constantly committed to developing new light source products that are more environmentally friendly, more efficient, and more energy efficient, and benefit the society. At the same time, as always, maintain the advantages of technological innovation, carry forward the unique and courageous spirit of opening up the market, and continue to innovate to develop and produce products required by the market to promote the sustainable development of enterprises.

The beginning and end of a trademark dispute

One year ago, the private company Xiamen Donglin Electronics Company's "Firefly" trademark was snatched by the multinational company Siemens OSRAM in 18 European countries, and Donglin filed a anger request to the German Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the registered trademark of Siemens OSRAM; On June 2, the two companies signed a settlement agreement, and Donglin Company enjoyed the ownership of the "Fireflies" trademark (lighting) at zero cost-

On June 2nd, Munich, Germany, Jia Qiang, Chairman of Xiamen Donglin Electronics Co., Ltd. and representative representative of Siemens Osram Corporation: Donglin Electronics owns and uses firefly trademarks on category 11 products (lighting) with trademark registration ; Siemens OSRAM owns and uses the firefly trademark on the 9th category (electronic components); the two parties do not pay any fees to each other. At this point, the dust of the "Fireflies" trademark dispute that has attracted much attention for a year has been settled.

This result was achieved in coordination with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the European Union. Jia Qiang expressed satisfaction with this ending. "This is the best outcome for a win-win situation," he told reporters.

"Fireflies" squatted in Europe

Donglin is a well-known energy-saving lamp company in Xiamen. Its original brand "Fireflies", which has been carefully cultivated for 8 years, has been rated as one of the top ten famous brands in China's lighting industry and a well-known best-selling brand in China. Waiting for 22 countries.

In May 2004, Donglin's headquarters received a report from a Polish dealer stating that they had been rejected when selling "firefly" energy-saving lamps in the German market. The bad news ensued, "Fireflies" were rejected by Germany, Britain, France, Spain and other countries, for the same reason, that is, the brand has been registered in these countries.

Donglin Company immediately conducted an inquiry, and the results were shocking. It turned out that Siemens Osram was the first to register the "Firefly" brand in 18 European countries.

Siemens Osram can be described as Donglin's old rival in the anti-dumping war. As the major energy-saving lamp manufacturer in Europe, as early as May 2000, Siemens OSRAM filed an anti-dumping lawsuit against the Chinese energy-saving lamp industry with the European Union. Among the 20 Chinese energy-saving lamp manufacturers listed is Donglin. In June 2001, the European Union made a final anti-dumping ruling, and China's energy-saving lamp products were charged with a high anti-dumping tariff of 66.1%.

In October 2002, Siemens OSRAM filed a review on the grounds that the EU ruling failed to protect similar companies in the EU, demanding that the amount of anti-dumping duties be increased. Among the 10 Chinese energy-saving lamp manufacturers listed, Donglin Electronics once again ranked among them. At the time, only 10 Donglin companies actively responded to the 10 Chinese companies, and Donglin became the first private enterprise in China to respond to foreign anti-dumping investigations, which was described by the media as a "lonely fighting firefly". In October 2003, Siemens OSRAM withdrew its case unconditionally.

After finding that the "Firefly" trademark had been registered, Jia Qiang immediately flew to Germany to conduct a market investigation. As a result, no energy-saving lamp products with the Siemens OSRAM brand firefly were seen in all major German shopping malls. At the same time, he noticed that Siemens OSRAM was Germany's application for registration of the "Firefly" trademark coincided with the EU's final ruling on high energy dumping duties on Chinese energy-saving lamp products. Based on this judgment, this is likely to be malicious cybersquatting.

Take risks and fight back

The squatting of the "Firefly" trademark was catastrophic for Donglin. Half of the energy-saving lamps exported by this company in 2003 are labeled with the "Firefly" trademark. If Siemens OSRAM is allowed to control the "Firefly" trademark rights in 18 European countries, it means that Donglin's energy-saving lamps cannot enter these markets. , Otherwise you will be charged with trademark infringement. Not only that, Donglin Company will set up factories all over the world, and its strategy of comprehensively entering the global energy-saving lamp market will also come to nothing. However, there is also a high risk of lawsuits. Once the case is lost, Donglin will pay 2 million euros in litigation costs, which is also a disaster for Donglin.

Donglin chose to rise up. Jia Qiang said: "It is absolutely impossible to keep silent, and we must take back our brand."

In June 2004, Jia Qiang, who was in Germany at the time, made a request for negotiation with Siemens OSRAM, but the other party ignored it.

In August, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the German Trademark Law, Donglin filed a challenge to the German Patent and Trademark Office with regard to the legality of the Siemens OSRAM registered "Firefly" firefly, and formally submitted a request to revoke the registered trademark. This application was formally accepted.

A few days later, Donglin held a press conference in Xiamen to announce to the media that the "Firefly" trademark had been squatted.

According to media reports at the time, Donglin's acting lawyer believed that Donglin had the right to use the brand in advance, Siemens OSRAM was registered afterwards, and it was left unused for a long time after the squatting of the "Firefly" trademark. Various indications indicate that the registration of the "Firefly" trademark by Siemens Osram in Europe is obviously a malicious cybersquatting action, aimed at preventing the energy-saving lamp products produced by Chinese companies from entering the European market. The lawyer stated that "Siemens Osram obstructed the flow of goods in a superficially legal manner, and its squatting activities were suspected of violating EU competition law provisions on free markets."

On August 17, the relevant person in charge of Siemens (China) Co., Ltd. denied the accusations of Donglin Company in an interview with reporters. The person in charge quoted OSRAM's opinion that the purpose of OSRAM's registration of the trademark was to protect the company's LED products, which belong to the 9th category (electronic components) in the trademark registration. According to German trademark law, a company's registered trademark can cover three major categories of products at the same time. Therefore, OSRAM also registered a category 11 product, namely lighting products.

"Osram is using the trademark Firefly to sell a light-emitting diode product." The person in charge emphasized, but she did not explain whether the brand was used in lighting products in response to Donglin's accusations.

Donglin immediately retorted: "Even if OSRAM used the trademark in category 9 light-emitting diode products, it did not prove that it used the trademark in category 11 lighting products. According to German trademark law Provided that if the trademark is not used for more than a certain period of time, it will be automatically cancelled. "

In December 2004, Donglin submitted a memorandum on cybersquatting of the "Firefly" brand to the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Labor through the Ministry of Commerce of China. Donglin said that if official mediation fails to make progress, the company will formally sue Siemens OSRAM to a German court. "If you wait quietly for a decision from the German Trademark Office, it may take half a year or even a year." Jia Qiang said.

On June 2, 2005, under the mediation of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the European Union, Donglin finally got the opportunity to negotiate with Siemens OSRAM, and finally signed a settlement agreement.

Confidence comes from government support

Recently, the reporter interviewed Jia Qiang after hearing the news that Donglin Company and Siemens Osram signed a settlement agreement from the national authority. He reflected on the process of the "Fireflies" trademark dispute.

Why didn't Donglin register the "Fireflies" trademark in Europe and was registered by Siemens OSRAM? Jia Qiang said: "There are so many countries in the world, if Donglin Company has to register one by one, it will have energy and cost difficulties. But now it seems that the company originally wanted to save costs is a very dangerous idea."

"During the entire incident, none of Donglin's management team flinched. They all said that they had to regain the trademark right even if they paid the greatest price. Their attitude gave me courage. But what I want to thank most now is the government, which is the government. His support gave me confidence. "Jia Qiang said with affection. He enumerated many facts in this regard: "In the beginning, after the officials of the Ministry of Commerce got the news, they took the initiative to call me to understand the situation and expressed concern. After that, they helped to invite experts to hold a seminar to make me theoretical Armed himself. Finally, he came forward to coordinate with the German authorities and the European Union to facilitate the signing of a settlement agreement. Xiamen has always attached importance to the protection of intellectual property rights by enterprises and counteracting trade barriers. It has specifically established an "Anti-dumping Advisory Center" and established " The "Anti-dumping Response Fund" provides support to companies responding to foreign anti-dumping cases. It should be said that Xiamen has created a good environment for supporting enterprises in responding to anti-dumping and protecting intellectual property rights. That success has a lot to do with it. In the 'Firefly' trademark case, the Xiamen Trade Development Council, the Economic Development Bureau and the Industry and Commerce Bureau gave me many pointers and suggestions in terms of policies and laws, which benefited me a lot. It is felt that the efforts of governments at all levels in China to support enterprises in responding to international trade barriers and protecting their legitimate rights and interests are increasing. "

Jia Qiang said deeply that many Chinese companies have encountered anti-dumping and trademark squatting incidents when going abroad, but only a few companies have actively responded and resolved disputes by legal means. There are many objective reasons for this, but as the main body of the market, companies must stand up straight and strengthen their courage in order to defend their legitimate rights and interests. At the same time, Chinese counterparts must unite and fight against international trade barriers in order to protect their common interests. In this regard, Wenzhou's lighter industry successfully responded to the anti-dumping case and set a good example for us. Other industries in China should learn from them.