Chaos in Tongrentang Cosmetics

The dispute over the trademark of Tongrentang was again put forward.

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On August 30, 2022, the listing committee of Shenzhen Stock Exchange canceled the application of Tianjin Tongrentang to be listed on GEM. A public analysis suggests that this may be related to the trademark infringement lawsuit against it.

Last year, two months after Tianjin Tongrentang filed its prospectus, Beijing Tongrentang took Tianjin Tongrentang to court for "infringement of registered trademark and unfair competition dispute".

According to public information, "Tongrentang" is an old brand of Chinese medicine with a history of more than 350 years. In the opinion of a senior industry insider, Beijing Tongrentang publicly announced to sue Tianjin Tongrentang for trademark infringement, which should be intended to warn the industry of the brands using "Tongrentang".

The most "well-known" of Tongrentang in the cosmetics industry is the market chaos brought by the trademark licensing business. CHAILEEDO found that there are three long-established companies with the name "Tongrentang" in the market, including Beijing Tongrentang, Nanjing Tongrentang, and Tianjin Tongrentang. Among them, Tianjin Tongrentang is less involved in the cosmetics business.

Unlike Tianjin Tongrentang, Beijing Tongrentang and Nanjing Tongrentang's cosmetics OEM business is in full swing. In the Pinduoduo platform alone, there are 25 "Beijing Tongrentang Cosmetics" or "Nanjing Tongrentang Cosmetics" with sales exceeding 100,000 and the hot categories are mostly eye creams, beauty spot removal creams, anti-hair loss shampoos, etc.

Although many businesses claim that they sell genuine products, the majority of "Tongrentang" cosmetics sold on the market are OEM products. A Guangzhou distributor who was the agent of Beijing Tongrentang cosmetics in 2017 has openly said, "Many companies want to obtain the brand license of these Tongrentang enterprises, because this brand has long been deeply rooted in Chinese, so the production of beauty, tea, and other single products, if labeled on the 'Tongrentang' related brand, sales are certainly great."

However, the proliferation of pharmaceutical companies’ labeling has led to a lack of assurance of product quality and has been criticized by many consumers. On the Xiaohongshu, there are several bloggers calling on their fans to avoid pharmaceutical cosmetics, and in the comments section of the relevant notes, there are also netizens reflecting that the pharmaceutical products they buy are "not effective" and "much false propaganda”.

"In the past, pharmaceutical companies faced problems with cosmetics such as authenticity and quality control. But not anymore, the State Medical Products Administration has explicitly banned dual trademark products. Whether it's Renhe, Tongrentang, or Baiyunshan, cosmetic labeling is no longer feasible." a senior regulatory professional told CHAILEEDO.

There are still a lot of "dual trademarks" cosmetic products that are marketed under the name of pharmaceutical companies. However, in light of the general trend of deepening consumer education and stringent regulation, the business of pharmaceutical company labeling may no longer be long-term.