Wechat's "Cover Face" Expression Was Used On Clothing. Two Businesses Were Prosecuted By Tencent.

Due to the unauthorized use of WeChat's expression design, production and sales of clothing products with WeChat's "face" expression, Suzhou Jin Wo Li Xin Le Trading Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Nei Sang Trading Co., Ltd. have recently been lawsuits, and were prosecuted by the Tencent Inc on the grounds of infringing their WeChat Expression Rights and forming unfair competition.


Reporters learned that the Tianhe District people's Court of Guangzhou has accepted the case recently.


The expression of WeChat, which is commonly used by small partners, has become a social habit in expressing certain "unspeakable" emotions. Some businesses are also beginning to print on clothing and other peripheral products, but the unauthorized use of WeChat's expression is likely to cause trouble.


It is understood that WeChat expression is a kind of art works, by Tencent Inc designers, experienced five times to complete the revision, and in 2016 in WeChat expression in the line. Among them, the "cover face" expression is the most popular expression. It is said that this is a Post-80's Ge Ge designed by Stephen Chow in the facial expression design team. He is a fan of the exaggerated "cover face" of Guangdong, and loves to cover his face on weekdays.


However, some friends have smelled "business opportunities" after their friends chatted with each other. Following the previous wave of trademark registration, the Tencent Inc recently discovered that the WeChat expression that had been registered in the Copyright Office of the national copyright administration was sold on clothes.


Suzhou Jin Wo Li Xin Le Trading Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Nei Sang Trading Co., Ltd. are the main body of this behavior. Without authorization, the former sells clothing products with "WeChat face art" image "cover face" without authorization, and the latter is the manufacturer of this garment.


Tencent Inc believes that the expression of "cover face" in WeChat's expression is highly known. The production and sale behavior of the above two companies has infringed Tencent Inc's copyright and related business rights and interests of WeChat's expression art works. At the same time, in order to obtain commercial interests, the two companies directly licensed the design and marketing results of the plaintiff through the "free riding" act without authorization, and used WeChat's "cover face" expression pattern as the most obvious logo of the clothing sold, undermining the fair competition market order, violating the honest and credit principle and the generally accepted business ethics stipulated by the anti unfair competition law, which constituted unfair competition for the plaintiff. To this end, Tencent Inc recently took the two company to the Tianhe District people's Court of Guangzhou.


Does the expression of "cover face" belong to works in the copyright law? The industry experts point out that, from the elements of the copyright law, the originality of "facial expression" pattern is very strong, with strong design color. Meanwhile, the "cover face" expression pattern constitutes a graphic art work with clear aesthetic meaning specified in the copyright law.


Previously, the "cover face" expression pattern was snatch as a trademark to attract social attention. In September 2018, a Trademark Bureau registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce found that in the 1611st issue of the trademark notice, the "face" expression had been approved by the trademark initially. There are twenty-fifth types of goods and services approved for the trade mark, covering clothing, baby full garment, shoes and socks, necktie scarves and so on.


In September 13, 2018, Tencent Inc responded that WeChat's daily expression of "yellow face" expression in the daily expression of "cover face" was completed by Tencent Inc designer. "Tencent will apply for objection to the trademark within the statutory time limit." At present, the trademark status of "cover face" is "disagreement".