After five years, the advertising dispute between the two herbal teas ended, but there is still an account to be settled …

　　Over the years, the dispute between Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao over the "two cans of herbal tea" has been going on, from trademark dispute, packaging dispute to later advertising dispute.

　　Last night, a five-year advertising dispute between Jiaduobao and Wang Laoji also came to an end.

　　GPHL and Jiaduobao issued separate announcements, and the Supreme People’s Court ruled that Jiaduobao immediately stopped using relevant advertising words and compensated GPHL for 1 million yuan. For Jiaduobao’s related advertisements such as "Red Canned Herbal Tea Renamed Jiaduobao", it is judged that it does not constitute false propaganda.

　　So, what is the attitude of consumers towards these two cans of herbal tea?

　　Jiaduobao’s "leading sales" advertisement is banned. "Renaming" advertisement is not illegal.

　　The reporter saw in the tea beverage shelf of a supermarket in Chaoyang District, Beijing that Jiaduobao herbal tea did not post additional advertising slogans. Some consumers said that as ordinary consumers, they have no special preference for these two herbal tea brands.

　　Beijing consumer: There is not much difference in taste between these two brands. As a layman, I can’t tell the difference.

　　Consumer in Beijing: It doesn’t make any difference here. I may buy whichever brand I meet in the supermarket.

　　From the cans placed on the shelves, it can be seen that the packaging styles of Wang Laoji and Jiaduobao are similar, and the one-to-one packaging is basically unclear. Sales staff told reporters that most consumers still pay more attention to price.

　　Liu Wei, Head of Food Department of Beijing Chaoyang Branch of AEON Commercial Co., Ltd.: At present, we sell more brands of Wang Laoji, and Wang Laoji makes special offers more frequently than Jiaduobao herbal tea, so it is definitely the price priority for customers.

　　In Shenzhen, the reporter visited a number of supermarkets and found that in the beverage area, the shelf share occupied by Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao is basically the same, and the prices of the two kinds of herbal tea are almost the same. The prices of 310 ml Jia Duobao canned herbal tea and 310 ml Wang Laoji canned herbal tea are all 3.99 yuan, while 250 ml boxed Jia Duobao is slightly more expensive than Wang Laoji of the same specification.

　　Tang Huiquan, Deputy General Manager of Caitian Store in Shenzhen, CR Vanguard: We now have about a dozen herbal teas, mainly Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao, and the sales of these two are similar.

　　In fact, in recent years, while the dispute between Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao continues, the growth rate of Chinese herbal tea market is gradually slowing down.

　　According to statistics, the average annual compound growth rate of China herbal tea market was 12.34% from 2011 to 2015, but it has dropped to single digits in 2016. At the same time, new drinks are emerging in an endless stream, grabbing the market, such as Heqizheng and Pan Gaoshou, which also occupy a certain market share. In this regard, some consumers believe that the purchase of herbal tea, in fact, everyone is more concerned about the taste and price. The two companies should still make good products, and litigation may only hurt the value of the brand.

　　Consumer in Shenzhen: There is no need to go to court, just sell them all.

　　Consumers in Shenzhen: Look at their attitudes. If one of them is too bad, it may affect the purchase.

　　Jiaduobao expressed full support for the verdict.

　　The data shows that in 2017, the market size of herbal tea industry was about 57.8 billion yuan, and Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao accounted for most of them, which can be described as a battle between the two strong. So, how will the two companies respond to yesterday’s judgment?

　　Today, the reporter contacted GPHL, but the other party refused the interview, and said that the dispute case was subject to the announcement. Later, the reporter contacted Jiaduobao Group, and the other party said that the Supreme People’s Court’s judgment held that Jiaduobao’s use of "the national leading red canned herbal tea changed its name to Jiaduobao" and other slogans related to "renaming" did not constitute false propaganda, and the company fully supported this result.

　　Li Chunlin, President of Jiaduobao Group: On May 9, 2012, we were forced to stop using the trademark of Wang Laoji, a red jar originally operated by Jiaduobao, because we received the arbitration result. Under the background of this established fact, we should change the name of this pot of herbal tea to Jiaduobao and tell consumers all over the country that this is to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the whole consumers.

　　In addition, for the Supreme People’s Court’s decision that Wuhan Jiaduobao immediately stopped advertising slogans such as "China sells 7 cans of herbal tea for every 10 cans" and compensated Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group and Wang Laoji Health Company for a total of 1 million yuan, Jiaduobao also expressed full support.

　　However, when talking about the lawsuit with Wang Laoji in recent years, Li Chunlin said that the cases in recent years have brought great troubles to enterprises, which have an impact on employees of enterprises and related upstream and downstream enterprises.

　　Li Chunlin, President of Jiaduobao Group: There are so many negative impacts on us, and we have to constantly deal with them, which will definitely have a great impact on our work and our market.

　　In this regard, industry experts pointed out that herbal tea enterprises should make progress together through legal competition if they want to do a good job in the market.

　　Li Shunde, a researcher at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: It must be adhered to that whoever makes more contributions should belong to whom. We still hope to achieve a win-win result, which does not mean that the competition between enterprises must be life-and-death. It will be better for enterprises to make progress together through legal competition.

　　Lawyer: the Supreme People’s Court’s judgment fully considers the interests of enterprises.

　　In fact, in addition to the three cases of false propaganda disputes announced by Baiyun Mountain last night, there are still many lawsuits between Wang Laoji and Jiaduobao involving contract performance, trademark disputes, unfair competition, etc. So what impact will this Supreme Law judgment have on the two companies in the future?

　　In this Supreme Court judgment, the amount of compensation that Jiaduobao had to bear was reduced from 9 million yuan to 1 million yuan. In the other two cases of false propaganda disputes, the original judgment of accumulated compensation of 11.21 million yuan for Jiaduobao was also revoked in the process of retrial by the Supreme Court. In this regard, legal experts said that the Supreme People’s Court made the ruling after comprehensively considering all aspects of the situation of the two companies.

　　Wu Dong, a partner lawyer of Beijing Zewen Law Firm: When making the judgment, the Supreme People’s Court comprehensively considered the historical origins of the two companies, their respective contributions and achievements in the process of brand, trademark, decoration and market competition, as well as their contradictions and disputes, and comprehensively considered the ruling made.

　　However, although the amount of compensation for these three false propaganda disputes has been reduced from 20 million to 1 million, another 1.44 billion compensation hanging over Jiaduobao is still inconclusive. During May 2012, Wang Laoji won the first trial of suing Jiaduobao for infringing Wang Laoji’s trademark right. On July 1 this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the first-instance judgment of trademark infringement compensation of 1.44 billion yuan was revoked and the case was sent back to the Guangdong High Court for retrial.

　　Tang Zhiseconds, Founding Partner of Guangdong Aitelang Law Firm: Now the Supreme People’s Court has sent it back to the Guangdong Provincial High Court for retrial. After this retrial, the Guangdong Provincial High Court will make a civil judgment of the first instance. If GPHL or Jiaduobao are still dissatisfied with this judgment, they can also apply to the Supreme People’s Court for an appeal.

　　Source: CCTV Finance WeChat WeChat official account