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

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China Post's Trademark Trouble: Post Coffee Application Rejected

Recently, China Post Group Co., Ltd., which was preparing to make its mark in the coffee industry, encountered "major trouble" with trademark registration. According to Tianyancha data, China Post Group applied for multiple "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE" trademarks in early April this year, covering international classifications 20, 21, 29, 30, and others. However, all applications show notices of rejection.

China Post probably never expected that its application for "Post Office Coffee" would be rejected one day... Although the reason for rejection is not shown, trademarks are typically rejected for several reasons: the trademark has already been registered by others, the trademark is similar to existing ones, it infringes on others' "prior rights," it violates absolute prohibition clauses/relative prohibition clauses, or the trademark uses generic terms.

Zhongyu Coffee Company, which collaborated with China Post to open Post Office Coffee outlets, applied for registration of multiple similar trademarks including "Post Office Coffee," "Postal Coffee," and "POSTE COFFEE" after China Post Group applied for "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE." However, they withdrew all applications just a few days later. Currently, there is no indication that similar trademarks such as "Post Office Coffee" or "Postal Coffee" have been successfully registered.

Therefore, China Post's application for "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE" was likely rejected because both "Post Office" and "Coffee" in the trademark contain generic terms. If generic terms are monopolized by a single company, it violates trademark law. As a result, whether it's "Postal Coffee," "Coffee Post Office," "Post Office Coffee," or "Coffee Post Office," none can be easily registered as trademarks.

Another possibility is that trademark law emphasizes distinctive characteristics. When people hear the words "Postal" or "Post Office," they associate them with the same entity. Therefore, when used for food service providers or food products, these terms lack distinctive features.

So, does this rejection mean "Post Office Coffee" will never have a chance to be registered as a trademark? If China Post files an appeal with the Trademark Review Committee within 15 days of receiving the trademark rejection notice, there is still an opportunity to register the trademark.

According to Tianyancha data, there is currently no mention of China Post Group filing an appeal in the "Post Office Coffee POST COFFEE" trademark registration process. If no appeal is filed within 15 days, the possibility of this trademark being submitted for registration again is not high. If an appeal is filed, it will take 6-9 months to receive the appeal result.

Impact of Trademark Rejection on Brand Operations

Regarding this rejection incident, many netizens have commented that if the trademark registration truly fails, how will Post Office Coffee's business operations be affected? In fact, whether a trademark is successfully registered or not does not affect the brand's store operations. It just means the brand name does not have exclusive usage rights, and others can also use the same name.

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

However, as soon as this statement was made, some netizens immediately pointed out that before this store opened, similar themed "Post Office Coffee" outlets already existed in Shapowei, Xiamen; near Wukang Building in Shanghai; and in Zhongshan, Guangdong. Subsequently, Xiamen Post Office posted on its official account that they reserve the right to pursue legal responsibilities against any units and individuals operating unauthorized "Post Office Coffee" outlets.

At the same time, another official account "Zhongshan Philately," certified as "China Post Zhongshan Branch," issued a different statement, saying: "'Post Coffee Post Office Coffee' is currently the only authorized coffee-themed post office operated by China Post Group Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Branch." This confirmed that there were also authorized "Post Office Coffee" outlets locally, which had already opened in December of last year.

For a moment, the controversy over which was truly "China Post's" first Post Office Coffee and whether franchising was possible became even more confusing. Ms. He from Zhongshan Post Office Branch explained that China Post's official account's statement that "Xiamen Post Office Coffee is the first" refers to "the first coffee shop opened within a postal service hall." She suggested that public misunderstanding of this statement was caused by imprecise wording in relevant news announcements.

Image source: Internet

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