November 07, 2020, 06:06 PM
Hotpot restaurant chain Haidilao has applied to trademark over 200 names in the month of October after it lost a lawsuit it brought against a restaurant named Hedilao in Changsha, Hunan, in August, Lianhe Zaobao reported.
A total of 90 names were applied for trademark on Oct. 27, followed by an additional 177 on Oct. 28.
As such, names that have now been submitted include "Shanghaidilao" (上海底捞), "Heihailao" (黑海捞),"Chidilao" (池底捞),"Qingdilao" (清底捞), "Qudilao" (渠底捞) and other variations where the pronunciation or meaning of the name is roughly similar to Haidilao (海底捞), according to Chinese media Sina.
How did the Hedilao lawsuit spur the move?
On August 12, the People's Court of Tianxin district of Changsha city gave its verdict on the case: that the Hedilao restaurant had not infringed on the trademarked name of Haidilao.
The court explained that this was due to the lack of similarity between the logos of Haidilao and Hedilao's logos in terms of the colour, structure and composition.
Sina reported that the court also pointed out that the characters of 河 ("he") and 海 ("hai) had no similarities in pronunciation, in both Mandarin and Hunan's local dialect.
Source: QQ
Hong Kong-based publication IPLaw further stated that the court also noted that the signature dishes of both restaurants were different, with Hedilao featuring river fish dishes from Hunan, and Haidilao featuring Sichuan-style hotpot.
Haidilao's profile is on the rise
Currently, Haidilao has over 700 restaurants all over the world, including Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Most of the restaurants however, are located in China.
Its billionaire founder, Zhang Yong, is also the richest person in Singapore as of 2020, with a total net worth of US$19 billion (S$26 billion).
He made his debut on the list of richest people in Singapore in 2019, with a net worth of US$13.8 billion (S$19.2 billion) at that time.
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Top image collage left photo by Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, right photo from Sina
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