Mentioning "Double Eleven", manypeople think of e-commerce and shopping keywords. However, the ownership of the"Double Eleven" trademark is still controversial.

Recently, China's two largest e-commercecompanies – Alibaba Group and JD.com, are continuing their lawsuits over whoowns the trademark rights to "Double 11," the massive shopping eventthat culminates on November 11. 

The Beijing intellectual property courtheld a trial on November 11 over the two companies' lawsuits against thetrademark decision made by the China National International PropertyAdministration (CNIPA).

JD.com sue IP regulator over ruling on thedispute

The lawsuit was initiated by JD after its fivetrademarks used for the promotion of the shopping extravaganza, which fell onNov 11, was announced invalid by the National Trademark Review Committee,according to a statement provided by the court. In response, JD sued thecommittee to the court.

At an open court hearing in BeijingIntellectual Property Court on Thursday, JD sought to overturn a previousfinding that five trademarks used in its annual Nov. 11 marketing campaignsviolated the intellectual property of the market leader. Alibaba attended as athird party.

During the trial, the committee's lawyerssaid that their client made the decision because similar trademarks had beenregistered by Alibaba. If the authority still allows JD's registrationapplication, it will disobey the Chinese Trademark Law, they added.

But JD's attorneys said that thetrademarks, written as Double 11 in Chinese characters, should be regarded asthe common names of the shopping carnival as it fell on Nov 11, "or thetrademarks registered by Alibaba have no significance".

They requested the court to order theadministration to revoke the decision and make a new one, adding their clients'trademarks would not mislead consumers.

The trademark between the two e-commercegiants dates back to 2018, when JD.com sent a request to the China NationalIntellectual Property Administration asking the regulator to take backAlibaba's registry of the trademark.

Alibaba first initiated the Double 11shopping event in 2009, applied for trademark registration in 2011 and wasapproved the same year.

But JD.com believes that Alibaba did notactually use the "Double 11" trademark during the three years fromNovember 2015 to November 2018 after the registration, thus should be revoked.

After two inspections, the StateIntellectual Property Office finally made a decision in May decided to maintainAlibaba's partial usage of the trademark after a review, and repealed the rest.

After this round of review, the StateIntellectual Property Office concluded that Alibaba had used the "DoubleEleven" trademark in three services: "advertisement; display productson communication media for retail purposes; and promote sales for others".

However, both JD.com and Alibaba weredissatisfied with the decision. JD.com was dissatisfied with the part aboutAlibaba keeping some of the rights and Alibaba was unhappy about some parts ofit being cancelled.

This brought the two companies to filesuits with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court respectively, requesting thecourt to order the China National Intellectual Property Administration to makea new decision.

Alibaba and JD.com both Make Record ‘DoubleEleven’ Sales

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba andJD.com have set new sales records for this year’s “Double Eleven” shoppingbonanza as the two online retailers have extended the sales window for theshopping event to drive up consumption crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd achieved recordsales of 268.4 billion yuan ($38.4 billion) during the shopping gala, anincrease of 26 percent compared with the figure in 2018.

As a latecomer to join the frenzy, JD alsoreported its accumulated sales during the shopping festival held from Nov 1 toNov 11 reached a staggering 204.4 billion yuan.

During the shopping festival that ran fromNovember 1 to November 11, Alibaba generated 498.2 billion yuan ($74.1 billion)in gross merchandise value, sharply up from 268.4 billion yuan a year ago.

Alibaba said that some 250,000 brandsparticipated in the shopping carnival, about 31,000 of which were fromoverseas, with livestreaming becoming a key marketing tool for vendors.

Meanwhile, JD.com logged 271.5 billion yuanin transaction volume for the 11-day period, compared with 204.4 billion yuanit registered last year.

JD.com said that the cities with thehighest per capita consumption from new users were lesser known ones includingYingtan in Jiangxi province, Tongchuan in Shaanxi province and Chuzhou in Anhuiprovince, a trend implying that the shopping event is used as a way to attractprice-conscious new users in lower-tier Chinese cities.

The record sales numbers come days afterChina’s State Administration for Market Regulation published a draft guidelineaimed at preventing monopolistic behaviors by internet platforms, a clear signof the government’s growing concerns over the risks of digital platforms run bythe likes of Alibaba and JD.com.

Double-11 shopping frenzy reflects China'sconsumption recovery

Known also as the Singles’ Day in China,the Double 11 was initiated by Alibaba group in 2009, and the trademark was laterregistered in 2011.

Ever since, the notorious Double 11 hasbecome the massive shopping festival held by every major e-commerce platform inChina, from the beginning of November and culminates on the 11th of November.

As the world's largest shopping festival,Double-11 is of great significance. Emerging from the shadow of the COVID-19pandemic, China's consumption rebounded with a total sales revenue of 498.2billion yuan ($74.1 billion) and 271.5 billion yuan, respectively, on Tmall.comand JD.com during the Singles' Day shopping festival. 

With its strategic victory in the fightagainst COVID-19, China's social life is basically back to normal, and Chineseconsumers are ready to reward themselves.

In order to seize opportunities, China'smajor e-commerce platforms started pre-sale activities a few days beforeNovember 11. Just after 00:00, November 1, the major players received a largenumber of online orders during pre-sale activities.

Alibaba and its competitors, JD.com andPinduoduo, witnessed great business within minutes after the opening of thefestival, regarded as a symbol of China's consumption recovery.

In the third quarter, China's economy grewby 4.9 percent, the best performance among the world's major economies. Thesustained recovery of consumer spending is the key to the country's economicrecovery.

Compared with previous festivals, thisyear's Double-11 has many highlights. Firstly, live-stream e-commerce isundoubtedly the most eye-catching feature, and it's also the new mode ofe-commerce with the most rapid development.

A large number of celebrities have floodedinto the field of live-streaming, which has penetrated many parts of thebusiness world and consumers' lives.

The development of e-commerce has impactedpeople's consumption patterns in a big way, the most prominent of which is theimprovement in the quality of consumers' lives.

For example, the diversification of demandhas improved significantly, and the choices of goods and services havesubsequently increased, which shows a consumer-centered transformation of thesupply side of e-commerce.

In addition, the differentiation, diversityand high value-added products provided by e-commerce platforms are increasing, andthe proportion of service in e-commerce sales is getting higher and higher,which are obvious signs of the high-quality development of the e-commerceindustry.

The new e-commerce with algorithmrecommendations and social media is constantly iterating the "searchmode" of traditional e-commerce.

In order to upgrade consumers' experience,e-commerce giants have completed a logistics revolution.

For example, through the presale mode,JD.com has started warehousing production the moment when consumers pay adeposit. The presale goods arrive at the nearest express station before thefinal payment is made. When the balance is received, JD.com can deliver thegoods to consumers within minutes.

Under the background of fierce competitionamong various platforms, Netease has withdrawn from Double-11 competition thisyear. Netease claims that it will not engage in complex promotion and return tothe essence of rational consumption this year.

Perhaps after more than ten years ofdevelopment, Double-11 will see more new consumption concepts emerge.