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According to CnEVPost, the EU intellectual property Office (European Intellectual Property Office) recently ruled that ES8/ES6 and Audi's S8/S6 do not constitute a likelihood of confusion, and therefore rejected Audi's request.

In June 2022, according to German "Business Daily" and other media reports, Volkswagen's Audi filed a lawsuit in the Munich court, accusing Ulai of infringing Audi's trademark rights. Audi said two of its models, named ES6 and ES8, infringed the trademarks of Audi S6 and S8.

In October 2022, "NIO Berlin" was held in Berlin, Germany, and three models of ET7, ET5 and ES7 were launched for the European market. It is worth mentioning that NIO quietly renamed the ES7 model to "EL7". NIO said that since the inception of the company, NIO has persisted in originality and made a systematic reflection on the naming of the model, and has started to apply for global registration since 2016, and has been successfully registered in China, Europe, the United States and other markets. Unfortunately, Audi questioned the name of the ES8/ES6 model and filed a lawsuit in Germany. In view of the protracted litigation, in order to avoid affecting the interests of users in Europe, NIO decided to use the name EL7 in Europe for now. NIO will continue to respond to the ongoing trademark litigation in Germany.

On January 19, the Munich District Court ruled that Audi won the case of Audi accusing NIO of trademark infringement. The court issued a ruling statement: "although the letter'E 'added to the defendant's logo is obviously different from the plaintiff's trademark' S6' and 'S8' in text and sound. The Court held that the addition of the letter'E 'did not provide sufficient distinction and that, taking into account the average uniqueness of the trademark and the existing characteristics of the goods, the two were at least related in terms of sound, which would lead to the risk of indirect confusion. "

In response to the outcome of the lawsuit, NIO expressed regret at that time and will appeal to defend its legal rights. The latest development means that unless Audi overturns the ruling of the EU intellectual property Office, the ES8 and ES6 trademarks will remain valid in the EU. It is worth mentioning that NIO has not sold ES6 or ES8 in Germany, which is only listed in Norway.

Does NIO infringe Audi's trademark? No matter at home or abroad, there are only two kinds of naming for automotive products, either a combination of Chinese characters, letters and numbers, or pure Chinese characters, letters and numbers, and both Ulai and Audi are the first way of naming. On the face of it, ES6/ES8 and S6/S8 are indeed very similar, and the difference between them is just one more "E" or one less "E", but in fact, few people will associate ES6/ES8 with S6/S8. The former is a new energy SUV, while the latter is a fuel sports car. At the time, however, a Munich court judge thought consumers might think it was just a shift from fuel vehicles to electric cars.

At present, the ES8/ES6 trademark has the support of the European intellectual property Office, which will provide some advantages for the appeal, but whether the appeal is successful or not needs to be finally decided by the Munich court. Some lawyers said that the global trademark protection laws are similar, but in the actual decisions, judges may make different decisions, mainly depending on whether the two sides have registered trademarks, whether naming will cause confusion to consumers, and so on. At home, people will not confuse these cars, but they are not well-known abroad, and it is difficult to say whether consumers will confuse their products with Audi, depending on how the Munich court judges.

However, compared with trademark protection, the market believes that a deeper reason may hinder the global layout of Lulai. As the leader of the new domestic car-building forces, the development of NIO in all aspects is being carried out in an orderly manner. In May 2021, NIO announced its entry into the Norwegian market, which is the first step for Xilai to enter the overseas market. In December 2021, NIO issued the 2022 development plan, and the products and system-wide services in 2022 will be officially landed in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and other countries. In October 2022, NIO will hold a press conference in Berlin, Germany, to launch three models of ET5, ET7 and ES7 for the European market. According to the plan, by 2025, NIO also plans to enter more than 25 countries and regions.

All along, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi-based traditional automakers continue to lead the market development, once the release of new products can always cause an uproar in the market. However, at present, the development of fuel vehicles has reached its peak, and the era of new energy vehicles has just begun. More and more traditional automakers are laying out this market, which has obviously become the key to future development. As a mainstream car-building new power company, Audi still sees the performance of NIO in the Chinese market, while NIO's products will soon be moved to Audi's home for sale, which may give Audi a sense of crisis.

In the context of global electrification, Audi's electrified products are more or less satisfactory. In the domestic market, Audi's electric models include Q4 e-tron, Q2L e-tron, Q5 e-tron, e-tron and other products, covering a price range of about 200000 to 500000 yuan. However, even if the Audi brand is blessed, few consumers pay for it. On the contrary, these new car brands can provide a different experience from traditional carmakers in terms of services and products. Figures show that Audi sold 118200 electric vehicles worldwide in 2022, up 44.3% from a year earlier, compared with 122500 delivered by Ulai.

All in all, on the surface, Audi is a reasonable measure to protect the trademark, but the reason behind it is worth studying. In fact, the development of new energy vehicles is in its infancy, both software technology and products are launched quickly, while traditional car giants such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz seem to be immersed in the glory of the past.

However, although NIO began to lay out the global market, its performance in the global market was very dismal. Take the Norwegian market as an example, there are no car brands in the market, basically imported cars from various countries, so it has become a gathering place for major car brands in the world. Data show that Norway sold 138300 pure electric vehicles in 2022, up 21.6% from a year earlier, with the top three brands Tesla, Volkswagen and Audi, while only 1127 vehicles were sold in the Norwegian market in 2022, accounting for 0.8% of the market. Overall, it is not easy for independent brands to develop the global market. Only Star cars appear in the top 10, while BYD sells only 2895 vehicles in Norway.

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