Recently, a product called "Meicheng Mooncake" sold by many leading anchors, including Xiao Yang, has been questioned. The brand's mooncakes were promoted and sold as "Hong Kong brand" in the live broadcast room. In fact, the trademark was registered in Hong Kong last year and th

Recently, a product called "Meicheng Mooncake" sold by many leading anchors, including Brother Xiao Yang, has been questioned. The brand's mooncakes were promoted and sold as "Hong Kong brand" in the live broadcast room. In fact, the trademark was registered in Hong Kong last year and the production place is in Guangdong.

The Paper found that the brand operator of Meicheng mooncakes is Guangzhou Meicheng Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guangzhou Meicheng Food Company"), and the manufacturer is Guangzhou Meicheng Food Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guangzhou Meicheng Food Company") Cheng Technology Company") and Foshan Meicheng Food Co., Ltd. Among them, Guangzhou Meicheng Food Company and Guangzhou Meicheng Technology Company are both located in Huadu District, Guangzhou City. The two companies claim that their parent company is Hong Kong Meicheng Food Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hong Kong Meicheng Group Company").

It is worth noting that Guangzhou Meicheng Technology Company was registered in 2014, and Hong Kong Meicheng Group Company was registered in 2019. Hong Kong Meicheng Group Company registered a number of mooncake-related trademarks with the words and designs "Meicheng" in Hong Kong in 2023 and 2024. Among them, the trademark with the words and images "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncake" was registered in September 2023 On the 22nd, almost one year has passed.

The Paper noted that the manufacturer of Meicheng mooncakes has been punished many times due to excessive packaging and other issues.

In September 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced five typical cases of excessive packaging, one of which was related to Meicheng mooncakes.

According to the case information released at the time, the market supervision department of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province discovered that the Nanjing Zhongshan Road Branch of Jiangsu North Hualian Supermarket Co., Ltd. sold boxed mooncakes with three specifications and names, including the "Meicheng Anna Golden Bottle Mooncake" sold for 499 yuan. (1.68kg/box)", the nominal manufacturer is Guangzhou Meicheng Food Technology Co., Ltd., and the production date is July 20. This product does not comply with the requirements of the Announcement: "Operators selling boxed mooncakes shall not sell them in conjunction with other products in any form; nor may they sell mooncakes mixed with other products in the form of gift boxes or other forms." Nanjing Xuanwu District Market Supervision Bureau ordered the company to make immediate corrections in accordance with Article 105 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, and provided administrative guidance based on the Announcement, ordering it to correct sales behaviors that violated the Announcement. After review, the relevant mooncakes have been removed from the shelves.

Tianyancha information shows that in October 2016, Guangzhou Meicheng Technology Co., Ltd., one of the manufacturers of Meicheng mooncakes, was fined 50,000 yuan by the Guangzhou Huadu District Food and Drug Administration. The type of violation was: "Food Safety Law" 》 (Revised at the 14th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on April 24, 2015) Paragraph 1 and 2 of Article 124.

The illegal acts mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 124 of the Food Safety Law are the production and operation of pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, biotoxins, heavy metals and other pollutants and other hazards Food and food additives whose content of human health substances exceeds the limit of food safety standards; use food raw materials and food additives that have exceeded the shelf life to produce food and food additives, or sell the above-mentioned foods and food additives.

In June 2024, Guangzhou Meicheng Technology Company was fined 15,000 yuan by the Guangzhou Huadu District Emergency Management Bureau for failing to provide safety production management personnel in accordance with regulations.

In February 2024, Foshan Meicheng Food Co., Ltd., another manufacturer of Meicheng mooncakes, was fined 55,000 yuan by the Danzao Town Government of Nanhai District, Foshan City for producing food that is prohibited from production and operation. It is worth noting that Foshan Meicheng Food Co., Ltd. was only established in February 2023.

The Paper previously reported that Crazy Little Yang and his anchor recently brought a "Meicheng mooncake" that attracted attention from the outside world because during the live broadcast, the anchor emphasized "Hong Kong" when introducing the mooncake. words, but whether this mooncake is a traditional Hong Kong brand has been questioned. Later, some media confirmed from the manufacturer that the mooncakes were produced in Guangdong and were not currently sold in Hong Kong.

It is worth noting that Guangzhou Meicheng Technology Company was registered in 2014, and Hong Kong Meicheng Group Company was registered in 2019.Hong Kong Meicheng Group Company registered a number of mooncake-related trademarks with the words and designs "Meicheng" in Hong Kong in 2023 and 2024. Among them, the trademark with the words and images "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncake" was registered in September 2023 On the 22nd, almost one year has passed.

Faced with the question that "Meicheng mooncakes are not available in Hong Kong", The Paper consulted the official online store customer service of Meicheng mooncakes in the name of consumers. The reply stated that the brand is registered in Hong Kong and has a trademark registration certificate, and is registered in Guangzhou. A marketing center and production base have been established in Foshan. When asked where the mooncakes came from, the customer service replied that they were "from Guangdong."

Many netizens believe that the relevant anchor’s sales pitch will make consumers mistakenly believe that Meicheng mooncakes are a traditional Hong Kong brand or even produced in Hong Kong, which is misleading. In this regard, some lawyers believe that if the anchor's words to promote products mislead consumers, and although the brand is registered in Hong Kong, it has little connection with local products in Hong Kong, it is suspected of violating the provisions of the advertising law and is very misleading. It may constitute false advertising or even consumer fraud.

The Paper has noticed that at present, the Douyin account of Meicheng Mooncake merchant has stopped live broadcasting to promote products. Only one video on its account is visible, and other videos are suspected to be hidden or deleted. On the evening of September 14th, Crazy Young Brother did not start broadcasting at 7pm on Saturday as usual. Currently, Meicheng mooncake-related products have been removed from the display window of Xiao Yang’s Douyin account.

Attorney Chen Jun, a partner of Anhui Tianhe Law Firm, has been involved in the field of intellectual property for many years and is the director of the Intellectual Property Professional Committee of the Anhui Lawyers Association. In an interview with The Paper, he believed that the establishment of a brand is based on product sales and promotion activities. If there is no substantive commercial operation in Hong Kong, but only a registered trademark, the relevant products can only be recognized as products with Hong Kong registered trademarks, rather than "Hong Kong brands".

Chen Jun said that given that mainland consumers have a certain tendency to consume Hong Kong or international brands, some businesses will take advantage of this mentality and entrust third-party professional agencies to register companies and trademarks in Hong Kong at a lower cost. Later, when selling products in the mainland market, some businesses will use "Hong Kong brand" as a marketing tool to increase the company's profitability.

According to Southern+ reports, on the evening of September 15th, the latest response from the Huadu District Market Supervision Bureau pointed out that after paying attention to the situation on September 13th, the bureau immediately launched an investigation into the company involved, Guangzhou Meicheng Food Co., Ltd. Verify. In response to the public concerns about "whether it is registered in Hong Kong" and "whether it is a Hong Kong brand", the company provided the commercial registration information of Hong Kong Meicheng Food Group Co., Ltd. registered in Hong Kong and issued the business registration information of Hong Kong Meicheng Food Group Co., Ltd. Relevant certificates for the trademarks "meisun", "Meicheng" and "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" are also provided, as well as documents such as the trademark use authorization between the company and Hong Kong Meicheng Food Group Co., Ltd.

Regarding the issue of whether "false propaganda" is involved, because it involves a wide range of areas, the company involved and the delivery company (Hefei Three Yang Network Technology Co., Ltd.) belong to different regions, and cross-regional verification requires coordination with multiple local regulatory authorities. Huadu The District Market Supervision Bureau will speed up the verification progress, handle the matter in accordance with laws and regulations, and respond to the concerns of the public and media in a timely manner.

Source: The Paper