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According to several media reports, the news sparked a heated debate in the industry after two businessmen surnamed "Mi" in Hecheng District, Huaihua City, Hunan Province, were sent a stop infringement letter by Xiaomi Company for naming their stores.

It is understood that on August 14, the Xiaomi Automobile maintenance Factory in Huaihua, Hunan Province, received a "tort notice letter" sent from Beijing. The "tort notice letter" ended with the "legal Department of Xiaomi Science and Technology Co., Ltd." and bears the official seal of Xiaomi Company. The content of the infringement notice letter shows: "because of the trademark infringement and unfair competition in which you use the name 'Xiaomi' in the enterprise name, the legal Department of Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. hereby sends you a notice to stop the infringement." And require that within 10 days of receiving the notice letter, stop using the name "Xiaomi" in the enterprise name, and will stop the infringement and give feedback through the mailbox in time.

In response to this notification letter, Mr. Mi, head of Xiaomi Automobile maintenance Factory, said that he "could not understand". He said that his surname was Mi, and his shop had been open locally for 20 years, and his relatives and friends had been calling him Xiaomi. In order to make it easy to remember, he named the store "Xiaomi Automobile maintenance Factory", and his business scope was completely different from that of Xiaomi Company, and he did not understand where the rights and interests of Xiaomi Company were infringed.

According to Tianyan inspection information, Mr. Mi's "Hecheng Xiaomi Automobile maintenance Factory" registered its business license in 2016 with a registered capital of 10,000 yuan. It is an enterprise mainly engaged in the maintenance industry of motor vehicles, electronic products and daily products.

In addition, Ms. Mi also received an e-mail from Xiaomi at the same time. Ms. Mi's "Hecheng Xiaomi Automobile Beauty Shop", registered in 2015, is a retail-based enterprise with a registered capital of 100000 yuan. Ms. Mi also believes that she only registered the enterprise with her surname, and did not receive any tort-related reminders from the Trade and Industry Bureau at the time of registration, and there is no infringement.

In response to the above news, on August 18, Xiaomi staff responded that the company did not directly sue these companies with "Xiaomi" in their names, nor did they propose a specific amount of compensation. The notice of cessation of infringement is actually a communication letter informing the relevant merchants that there is a risk of brand infringement, which does not mean that Xiaomi will sue each other, even if the merchants do not change their names after 10 days. Xiaomi will also judge whether the merchant infringes based on the facts and will not "beat him to death".

According to public information, the "Xiaomi enterprises" that contain the word "Xiaomi" and are best known to the public are Xiaomi Group, Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd., and Xiaomi Automobile Co., Ltd., the latter two of which are members of the Xiaomi Group. Among them, Xiaomi Technology was founded in 2010, Xiaomi Automobile was founded in 2021. Industrial and commercial registration information shows that the business scope of the two "Xiaomi enterprises" is not related to the categories of "automobile maintenance services" and "retail of automobile beauty and decorative products".

In March 2021, Xiaomi Group announced its official entry into the auto circle. "Xiaomi car is the last major start-up project in my life," Lei Jun said at a press conference. "Xiaomi car is willing to bet the whole reputation of my life and lead the team to fight for Xiaomi car." Since then, Xiaomi began to store "trademarks" and announced that from the third day of car construction, Xiaomi Science and Technology Co., Ltd. submitted an application for trademark registration of 45 categories of full-class "Xiaomi cars". But before Xiaomi confirmed the construction of the car, the trademark of "Xiaomi car" had been preemptively applied for registration. In September 2021, Xiaomi Automobile officially registered as "Xiaomi Automobile Co., Ltd.", Xiaomi Chairman and CEO Lei Jun served as the legal representative, after that, Xiaomi car manufacturing has been the focus of the industry.

In response to the above two businessmen surnamed "Mi" because of the use of "Xiaomi" to name their stores, Xiaomi company sent a stop infringement letter, a lawyer said: the use of "Xiaomi" in the names of the two companies does not constitute trademark infringement. In the initial application for the "Xiaomi" trademark, Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. did not obtain the exclusive right to use the trademark of "car maintenance and repair" similar group services, and did not obtain another "Xiaomi" trademark until 2022. The two enterprises in Hunan were registered in 2015 and 2016 respectively. However, some lawyers said: although Xiaomi developed the automobile business relatively late, as a link in the ecological chain of the Xiaomi brand, Xiaomi itself has a certain popularity. "there are changes in this, and there are not necessarily problems when it was registered a few years ago." however, when Xiaomi enters the automobile industry, it may lead to cognitive confusion among consumers and the risk of infringement.

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