State-owned Enterprise's Coffee Venture Frustrated as Trademark Application Rejected

China Post's Trademark Trouble: Post Coffee Application Rejected

China Post Group Co., Ltd., which had been preparing to make its mark in the coffee business, recently ran into serious trouble with a trademark registration. According to data from Tianyancha, China Post Group filed multiple "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE" trademarks in early April this year, covering international classifications 20, 21, 29, 30 and others. All of the applications now carry notices of rejection.

China Post probably never imagined that its "Post Office Coffee" application would one day be turned down. Although no reason for the rejection is given, trademarks are usually refused for a handful of reasons: the mark is already registered by someone else, it is too similar to an existing mark, it infringes on another party's prior rights, it breaches absolute or relative prohibitions, or it consists of generic terms.

Zhongyu Coffee Company, which partnered with China Post to open Post Office Coffee outlets, applied to register several similar marks — "Post Office Coffee," "Postal Coffee" and "POSTE COFFEE" — after China Post Group filed for "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE." It withdrew all of them just days later. At present there is no sign that marks such as "Post Office Coffee" or "Postal Coffee" have been successfully registered.

The likely reason China Post's "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE" was refused is that both "Post Office" and "Coffee" are generic terms. If generic terms were monopolized by a single company, that would violate trademark law. As a result, none of "Postal Coffee," "Coffee Post Office," "Post Office Coffee" or "Coffee Post Office" can easily be registered.

Another possibility is that trademark law emphasizes distinctiveness. When people hear the words "Postal" or "Post Office," they associate them with the same entity, so when such terms are used for food service providers or food products they lack distinctive character.

Does the rejection mean "Post Office Coffee" can never be registered? If China Post files an appeal with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board within 15 days of receiving the rejection notice, it still has a chance.

According to Tianyancha data, there is currently no record of China Post Group filing an appeal in the "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE" process. If no appeal is filed within those 15 days, the odds of the mark being submitted for registration again are not high. If an appeal is filed, it takes a further 6–9 months to receive a result.

What the Rejection Means for the Business

Many netizens have asked how the rejection would affect Post Office Coffee's operations if the registration really fails. In fact, whether a trademark is successfully registered has no bearing on a brand's store operations — it simply means the brand name does not enjoy exclusive rights of use, and others can use the same name too.

In February this year, when China Post's own chain brand Post Office Coffee opened its Xiamen International Trade Building store, China Post stated officially that the country's first Post Office Coffee store had opened at the Xiamen International Trade Building.

The moment that statement was made, however, netizens pointed out that similar themed "Post Office Coffee" outlets had already existed before it — in Shapowei in Xiamen, near Wukang Building in Shanghai, and in Zhongshan, Guangdong. Xiamen Post Office then posted on its official account that it reserved the right to pursue legal responsibility against any unit or individual operating an unauthorized "Post Office Coffee" outlet.

At the same time, another official account, "Zhongshan Philately," verified as "China Post Zhongshan Branch," issued a different statement: "'Post Coffee Post Office Coffee' is currently the only authorized coffee-themed post office operated by China Post Group Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Branch." That confirmed there were authorized "Post Office Coffee" outlets locally as well, and that they had opened back in December of the previous year.

For a moment, the dispute over which outlet was truly "China Post's" first Post Office Coffee — and whether franchising was even possible — became even more confusing. Ms. He from the Zhongshan Post Office Branch explained that China Post's official statement that "Xiamen Post Office Coffee is the first" referred to "the first coffee shop opened within a postal service hall." She suggested that public misunderstanding of the claim came from imprecise wording in related news announcements.

Image source: Internet

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