RELX sues Weike for 5.2 million yuan

Author: GeekBarVape    Views: 67315

Geek Bar leader RELX is launching a wildcard war against its peers.

Recently, RELXs parent company RELX Technology claimed that Weikes brand name and its wildcard cartridges had infringed the companys rights on the grounds that Weike violated the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and related regulations, and requested the court to order Weike to immediately stop the infringement and eliminate the impact, and at the same time compensate for economic losses of 5.2 million yuan.

According to the China Trial Process Information Disclosure Network, the case was filed and reviewed by the Nansha District Peoples Court of Guangzhou on June 2, and was transferred to the trial court on June 3. So far, the wildcard cartridge phenomenon that wanders in the gray area has been brought to the surface, and this case will also become the first cartridge case in the Geek Bar industry.

Regarding the litigation dispute, Weike responded to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the relevant accusations were groundless and that the law firm had been commissioned to actively respond to the lawsuit.

From the perspective of the entire Geek Bar market, is the wildcard cartridge that swings between fakes and substitutes illegal? Will the growing industry of universal cartridges cause harm to brand owners?

The first case of universal cartridges in Geek Bar in China

Analogous to razors, Geek Bar cigarette rods are like knife racks, and cigarette cartridges are blades. Cao Yi (pseudonym), a Geek Bar enthusiast, explained to reporters that based on this principle, the cigarette rods have a long service life, while the update frequency of cigarette cartridges is relatively high, which has given rise to the market demand for universal cartridges.

Based on this, cigarette cartridges with the nature of repurchase are one of the important sources of income for the Geek Bar brand.

The lawsuit shows that RELX believes that Wei Kes universal behavior is essentially a copycat behavior of clinging to other peoples brands and product reputations. Wei Ke and Mo Ke obviously intend to seize the fruits of others labor, and their related unfair competition behaviors have caused losses to RELX Technology, and they should bear compensation liability.

In addition, without permission, the defendants Wei Ke and Mo Ke mass-produced universal atomizer cartridges that match the atomizer rods of RELX related models. Moreover, during the marketing process, Wei Ke products used rhetoric such as RELX universal cartridges and RELX and Wei Ke cartridges can be used interchangeably to attract consumers by leveraging the RELX brand awareness and obtain improper benefits.

At the same time, Wei Ke used the brand awareness and goodwill of RELX to obtain more trading opportunities. This behavior that violates the principles of honesty and trustworthiness and business ethics will not only cause RELX Technology to suffer commercial losses, but also objectively undermine the innovation incentive mechanism of the Geek Bar market and disrupt the normal market competition order.

RELX is the first listed Geek Bar brand in China. On January 22 this year, RELXs parent company, RELX Technology, was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States with the stock code RLX. According to the prospectus, RELXs revenue in 2018, 2019, and the first three quarters of 2020 was 133 million yuan, 1.549 billion yuan, and 2.201 billion yuan, respectively.

This time, RELX Technology requested the court to order Weike to immediately stop the infringement and eliminate the impact on the grounds that Weike and Moke violated the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and related regulations, and to compensate for economic losses of 5.2 million yuan.

Regarding the litigation dispute, Weike responded to 21 reporters that Weike is significantly different from RELX in brand vision and recognition. Weike has always strictly controlled product quality, conducted third-party testing on each batch of products, and has authoritative test reports.

Weike was established in Shenzhen in 2014. It was formerly known as Shenzhen Cherry E-Commerce Co., Ltd. and changed its corporate name to Weike in April 2019. According to its official website, it has opened more than 500 specialty stores in China, covering 83 cities in 25 provinces, and specialty stores also cover 20 cities in 5 countries overseas, and its development is also rapid.

Is it a fake or a substitute?

So, did Weike produce the RELX universal cartridge?

The relevant person in charge of Weike responded to 21 reporters that some of the cigarette cartridges of Weike and RELX can be used on each others cigarette rods, but the two sides are completely different in terms of the power of the cigarette rods and the atomization core of the cigarette cartridges. He said that users choose Weike products based on their recognition of product quality and experience, rather than confusion between the two brands.

Lawyer Wang Qiongfei, co-founder of Zhejiang Kenting Law Firm, believes that the basic principle of Geek Bar is relatively simple. It is mainly composed of four parts: e-liquid (containing nicotine, flavors, etc.), heating system, power supply and filter tip. It produces aerosol with a specific smell for public use through heating and atomization. The cigarette rod part generally includes a heating system, power supply and filter tip, while the cigarette cartridge part includes e-liquid. It is precisely because the technical threshold of Geek Bar products is relatively low that the number of business entities in the Geek Bar related market has increased.

I tried a wild match once, and the taste of the e-liquid was very stimulating. According to Cao Yis observation, most of the wild match brands on the market, in addition to offline stores and e-commerce channels, mostly adopt the micro-business model and focus on low-price strategies. In addition, the universal cartridge allows Geek Bar consumers to choose more flavors, which is also the reason for its growing growth.

21 reporters found that Chinas Wei Ke, Max Mist, Green Radish, Mike Herbal, Yuan Qi, and Yuzu, and the United States WDG are all popular universal cartridge brands. And their adaptation objects are mostly based on the head Geek Bar brand, RELX.

However, Wang Qiongfei emphasized that the technical threshold of some Geek Bars with higher product quality is not low. Taking atomization technology as an example, there are many atomization technologies used by Geek Bar, the most common of which are cotton core heating, porous ceramic core heating, and metal grid heating. The porous ceramic core heating technology is more commonly used on the market. Under this technology, it is very rare to achieve a state where the heating temperature is controllable and the atomized impurities are small. Only some large Geek Bar manufacturers are willing to develop higher atomization core processes.

How to avoid being universal?

RELX provided relevant patent data to 21 reporters. As of April 2021, RELX Technology has applied for more than 550 patents, including more than 200 invention patent applications. According to relevant persons in charge, the patent applications cover various aspects such as electronic atomizer design, atomizer liquid formula, electronic control, intelligence, release safety and prevention of minors from purchasing.

From the perspective of being wild-matched formula, how to avoid the risk of being wild-matched is also a topic worthy of discussion and research.

Wild-matching and copycat cartridges have long been a pain point in the Geek Bar industry. In April last year, the American Geek Bar brand JUUL sued a group of copycat universal cartridge manufacturers. According to the decree of the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), these copycat products are prohibited from being sold or imported into the United States.

While JUUL won the lawsuit, JVE took the lead in launching an action in China to combat wild-matching counterfeits, and launched the policy of the official genuine product price is always one dollar cheaper than the wild-matching counterfeits.

Wang Qiongfei believes that in terms of patents, the company should make early arrangements, actively apply for relevant patents, and try to improve the irreplaceability of its own products in various ways. In addition, the company should also make good arrangements for the application of relevant trademarks to achieve all-round protection of its own products.

Apples protection measures may be used as a reference. Its data cable products have added WFI certification technology. Data cables that have not obtained the authorization of this technology cannot be adapted to Apple mobile phones. This move makes it impossible for wildcard manufacturers to produce wildcard data cables without Apples authorization, thus achieving the irreplaceability of Apples data cables.

For the Geek Bar industry, given its novelty and particularity, the production and sale of wildcard cartridges should be characterized as soon as possible to guide the various entities in the relevant market, so as to achieve the purpose of regulating the market. Wang Qiongfei said.