4 ms·

You're free to believe your hunches. The reality is different. We've manufactured and exported brand-name products from China for over 30 years. In our experie

by kweks 11y ago

You're free to believe your hunches. The reality is different. We've manufactured and exported brand-name products from China for over 30 years. In our experience, when a trademark is registered, Chinese customs is very proactive in seizing / destroying infringing property. The domestic market is definitely another story, but there are controls in place for the export market. The onus is on the brand owner to register their trademark - no different to registering a mark in any other jurisdiction. Legitimate business has been conducted with China for centuries, and China has every reason to defend foreign brands in order to protect its manufacturing industry.

studentrob 11y ago
> The domestic market is definitely another story, but there are controls in place for the export market. I believe the domestic market is what's at stake for the OP. haogegebisai is Chinese for "good older brother tournament" and that site is all in Chinese
- bflesch 11y ago
  Yes, we wouldn't want to give it away without a fight. Chinese people are crazy for gambling, and our business is on the right side of a very, very fine line between gambling and skill-based gaming. Thanks for the translation! I thought the gege was standing for GG (good game), a part of eSports slang. For the rest my Chinese is too rusty :/
  - studentrob 11y ago
    Oh you might be right about it being slang. My Chinese isn't great. I just like to pretend it is on the internet haha! Their website uses the characters 好哥哥 (haogege) and I don't see 比赛 (bisai) written anywhere. Maybe they changed it after getting the domain.
seanmcdirmid 11y ago
You've got to know the Chinese trademark office exists, and you have to do it before your Chinese competitor does. There is a cottage industry in China of Chinese companies squatting in popular western trade marks via the trademark office. If the publicity is extra bad, you might get relief from the government, but there is no legal basis for that relief. (Incidentally, their was an article yesterday in Chinese investment firms taking well known international brands and using the name with a Chinese city pretended, like Shenzhen Blackrock...). A small startup usually won't register trademarks in markets they don't operate in. This wasn't a problem before since those markets weren't interested anyways. But given the whole Internet industry in China is basically built around shanzhai-style copying (much safer than doing original design and developing original IP), we are gong to see a lot more of is in the future.
6stringmerc 11y ago
The prevalence of "Chibson" knock-off Gibson guitars that have arrived in the United States indicates that China is more than willing to manufacture and export other people's name brand products without more than superficial policing. It would appear the trademark and brand protection policing is an indication of the other workmanship that can be expected from the nation.

by kweks 11y ago

studentrob 11y ago

> The domestic market is definitely another story, but there are controls in place for the export market. I believe the domestic market is what's at stake for the OP. haogegebisai is Chinese for "good older brother tournament" and that site is all in Chinese

bflesch 11y ago
Yes, we wouldn't want to give it away without a fight. Chinese people are crazy for gambling, and our business is on the right side of a very, very fine line between gambling and skill-based gaming. Thanks for the translation! I thought the gege was standing for GG (good game), a part of eSports slang. For the rest my Chinese is too rusty :/
- studentrob 11y ago
  Oh you might be right about it being slang. My Chinese isn't great. I just like to pretend it is on the internet haha! Their website uses the characters 好哥哥 (haogege) and I don't see 比赛 (bisai) written anywhere. Maybe they changed it after getting the domain.

seanmcdirmid 11y ago

You've got to know the Chinese trademark office exists, and you have to do it before your Chinese competitor does. There is a cottage industry in China of Chinese companies squatting in popular western trade marks via the trademark office. If the publicity is extra bad, you might get relief from the government, but there is no legal basis for that relief. (Incidentally, their was an article yesterday in Chinese investment firms taking well known international brands and using the name with a Chinese city pretended, like Shenzhen Blackrock...). A small startup usually won't register trademarks in markets they don't operate in. This wasn't a problem before since those markets weren't interested anyways. But given the whole Internet industry in China is basically built around shanzhai-style copying (much safer than doing original design and developing original IP), we are gong to see a lot more of is in the future.

6stringmerc 11y ago

The prevalence of "Chibson" knock-off Gibson guitars that have arrived in the United States indicates that China is more than willing to manufacture and export other people's name brand products without more than superficial policing. It would appear the trademark and brand protection policing is an indication of the other workmanship that can be expected from the nation.