Is the ten-year enmity and enmity with Wang Laoji a grand finale?, Trademark dispute: Jia Duobao is sentenced to compensation of 317 million yuan for Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group | Wang Laoji

In the trademark dispute with Wang Laoji, Jia Duobao lost the next round.

On July 10, Jiaduobao issued the "Statement of the First Instance Judgment of the Trademark Dispute between Jiaduobao and Guangyao", stating that it received the first instance judgment of the Guangdong Higher People's Court on the trademark dispute between Guangyao Group and Jiaduobao on the same day. The first-instance judgment found that Liugatobao Company jointly infringed the rights and ruled that Liugatobao Company should compensate 0.317 billion yuan.

Will Wang Laoji and Gatobao's Ten-Year Enmity Record usher in a grand ending?

The judge was awarded compensation of 0.317 billion yuan. Jiadobao refused to appeal.

Regarding the verdict, Jiaduobao expressed regret in a statement and said that it would immediately appeal to the Supreme People's Court. "this first instance judgment will not have any impact on gatobao," gatobao stressed."

Public information shows that in 2014, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group initiated a trademark infringement lawsuit, demanding a judgment that Jiaduobao compensate for the economic losses of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group caused by the infringement of the plaintiff's "Wanglaoji" registered trademark between May 2, 2010 and May 19, 2012.1 billion yuan; In 2015, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group changed the compensation amount to 2.93 billion yuan. In February 2015, Jiaduobao filed a counterclaim, demanding that Guangdong High Court order Guangyao Group to compensate LiuJiaduobao Company for economic losses of 1 billion yuan.

On July 10th, Jiaduobao issued a statement on the first instance judgment of the trademark dispute case with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical. Screenshot from the official website of Jiaduobao.

In 2018, the Guangdong High Court made a judgment of first instance, ruling that Jiaduobao should compensate Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group for 1.44 billion yuan. Both parties refused to accept the judgment and filed an appeal. On June 17, 2019, the Supreme People's Court found that the main evidence provided by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group had "significant defects in the content and form of evidence, which could not be used as the basis for determining the facts of the case", and revoked the judgment of the Guangdong High Court and sent it back for retrial.

In response, the Guangdong High Court held two public hearings in 2020 and 2022. In the end, the first instance ruled that Liugatobao Company compensated Guangyao Group for economic losses of about 0.317 billion yuan. Other claims of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group were rejected.

On the evening of July 10, Baiyunshan, the parent company of Wanglaoji, also issued an announcement stating that the company's controlling shareholder, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, received the first-instance "Civil Judgment" from the Guangdong High Court on the "Wanglaoji" trademark legal dispute litigation case. Baiyunshan said in the announcement that the retrial judgment of this case will not affect the company's profits in the current period or after the period.

In fact, this is not the first time Gatobao has refused to appeal. From the dispute over who is the identity of "Wang Laoji", to the slogan of "drink 27X for fear of getting angry", from the dispute over exclusive formula to the dispute over red can packaging, the lawsuit between Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group and Jiaduobao has been going on since 2012, and has won many cases with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical. However, Jiaduobao, who has repeatedly failed and sued, won the right to jointly enjoy the packaging and decoration of "Red Can Wanglaoji Herbal Tea" only in packaging.

Ten Years of Disputes Herbal Tea Market "People Walk Cool Tea"

For eleven years, Wang Laoji and Jiaduobao fought in full swing in the lawsuit. However, the whole herbal tea market, but gradually "people walk tea cool".

In 2011, the sales revenue of red cans Wang Laoji was 16 billion yuan, even surpassing Coca-Cola. This is also the best period for the herbal tea market. Data show that from 2009 to 2012, the herbal tea category maintained a high growth rate of 16%-18%. However, then, herbal tea began to walk "downhill".

According to the report of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, from 2012 to 2017, the growth rate of the herbal tea market was 16.7, 15.9, 15.1, 15, 9.7 and 9.1, respectively, showing a downward trend year by year. By 2018, the market size of herbal tea was only 47 billion yuan, down 18% year on year.

Under the general trend of slowing market growth, the performance of leading enterprises of herbal tea also showed weakness. Baiyunshan's 2022 annual report released in April this year showed that its big health business revenue was 10.4731 billion billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.48, and its gross profit margin decreased by 3.82 percentage points year-on-year, which has fallen for the third consecutive year. And Baiyunshan big health sector revenue mainly from Wang Laoji.

Except for hot weather and major festivals, hot pot, barbecue, and other hot tea consumption scenarios have become the main consumption scenarios for herbal tea. Screenshot from Wang Laoji's promotional video.

The herbal tea market is "cool", and the fundamental reason is that the current young people have not formed a preference for drinking herbal tea. Although health preservation has become the new pursuit of young consumers, herbal tea has a single taste and is difficult to continue to attract consumer groups with rapidly changing needs. However, the classic "drink 27X if you are afraid of getting angry" limits the consumption scene of herbal tea to limited scenes such as high temperature seasons, parties and major festivals.

In contrast, bubble water and other kinds of tea drinks, which are also cut into the healthy track, are more favored by young people because of their various tastes and selling points such as 0 sugar and 0 fat, gradually encroaching on the herbal tea market, which has limited room for growth.

Wang Laoji has made special efforts to please young people. He has not only introduced sugar-free bubble herbal tea, but also added a series of thorns and lixiaoji in an effort to create "auspicious three treasures". However, China New Finance noted that its new product sales are still inferior to the classic Wang Laoji. In addition, the zero-calorie herbal tea launched by Gatobao has also received a mediocre response.

The herbal tea market, where "people walk cool tea", may not be able to wait for the "grand ending" of Wang Laoji and Jiaduobao's feud ".