Current Position: Home > IP News > Coca Cola sells "Prunella vulgaris" herbal tea. How about the trademark layout?

Recently, Coca Cola tmall flagship store quietly launched a herbal tea product called "Prunella vulgaris". Coca Cola introduced this product as follows: herbal formula · traditional herbal tea; No additional artificial flavors and colors are added. Coca Cola introduced the herbal tea brand "Health workshop" from Hong Kong to the mainland market for the first time.

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However, this new herbal tea does not seem to have aroused much interest among consumers. According to the data of Coca Cola flagship store, the sales volume of this product is only 90 pieces, and only 4 consumer comments have been received. In addition, several consumers suggested that the unit price of the herbal tea was too high. After 24 bottles of herbal tea were discounted, the price was 297 yuan, and the unit price was about 12.4 yuan. Some netizens said: "the name is a bit scary." the price is cool. There is nothing wrong with this herbal tea. ".

Coca Cola herbal tea market layout

In terms of herbal tea market, Coca Cola started its layout as early as more than ten years ago.

In 2005, Coca Cola announced that it had reached a cooperation with the Chinese Academy of traditional Chinese medicine to develop beverages containing Chinese herbal ingredients and formulas. In 2007, Coca Cola and the Chinese Academy of traditional Chinese medicine established the research center of traditional Chinese medicine and invested 600million yuan in the research and development of Chinese herbal drinks represented by herbal tea. However, until the end of 2008, Coca Cola did not launch any herbal tea drinks. In the following years, Coca Cola rarely mentioned the herbal tea business.

According to the data, "Health workshop" has officially become a member of Coca Cola family since november2005, and developed Coca Cola's health drinks. Coca Cola said that joining the new member of "herbal tea" will help expand its beverage category in the beverage market and take a big step towards its long-term goal of developing more diversified drinks. At that time, the "Health workshop" beverage was only sold in Hong Kong, China, and there was no plan to enter the mainland market.

The predecessor of "Health workshop" is tongzhitang, an old brand of herbal tea in Hong Kong, China. It is reported that tongzhitang (herbal tea) Co., Ltd., a company registered in Hong Kong, China, was changed to health workshop (herbal tea) Co., Ltd. on july4,2003. According to the data, tongzhitang's products have also changed from traditional herbal tea to a healthy drink that matches the people's life. At the same time, tongzhitang carries out the business of packaged drinks and herbal tea shops.

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In 2016, Coca Cola proposed to be a "full range beverage company". In may2017, Zhan kunjie, CEO of Coca Cola, announced the implementation of the "all category strategy", saying that he would lead Coca Cola out of its comfort zone. In the past two years, in addition to the recent herbal tea products, Coca Cola has also set foot in alcohol, coffee, dairy products and other business sectors in the mainland market of China.

In view of the development plan of the herbal tea industry, Coca Cola said that this product is an exploration on the subdivision of tea drinks under the company's full category beverage strategy, and it is still in the preliminary exploration stage.

In the view of the industry, Coca Cola's move to introduce this herbal tea into the mainland market is an important step in the whole category beverage strategy, and also releases its intention to further compete for the herbal tea market. However, in the mainland market, the overall market heat of the herbal tea market is not high, and Wanglaoji, Hezheng and other herbal tea brands have already occupied most of the market share. At this time, Coca Cola enters the market at a high price, and it may not be easy to get a piece of it.

How about the trademark layout of "Prunella vulgaris" of Coca Cola?

Prunella vulgaris is a traditional Chinese medicine. It grows in the wet grass, wasteland and roadsides on both sides of the gully, water and wetland or the river bank. It is widely distributed in all parts of China. It is mainly produced in Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and other provinces. It has the effects of clearing the fire and brightening the eyes, and can cure redness, swelling, pain and headache.

Through the official website of the Trademark Office, it was found that there were 8 "Prunella vulgaris" related trademarks, but Coca Cola did not layout the "Prunella vulgaris" trademark.

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Whether the trademark of "Prunella vulgaris" can be registered as the name of traditional Chinese medicine remains to be considered.

According to Article 11 of the trademark law, the following signs shall not be registered as trademarks:

(1) Only the general name, figure and model of the commodity;

(2) Only directly indicating the quality, main raw materials, functions, uses, weight, quantity and other characteristics of the commodity;

(3) Other lack of distinctive features.


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