Copyright spat erupts over famed buns

Qingfeng, the Beijing-based steamed bun fast-food chain that gained instant fame after a visit from President Xi Jinping, has said that a company in Changsha has violated its trademark and it retains the right to seek legal action.

Founded in 1948, Qingfeng won overnight fame after Xi visited its Yuetan branch in western Beijing and bought a meal, including six stuffed buns, on December 28, 2013.

On January 22, Colorful World, which runs a theme park in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, bought 5,000 buns from Qingfeng's Guangqumen branch in Beijing and sold them at the theme park during Spring Festival.

The Changsha company said in a poster that it is the only buns supplier outside Beijing and used the slogan "Qingfeng buns are coming," according to an earlier report by local newspaper Xiaoxiang Morning Post.

Qingfeng usually sells three buns for 3.5 yuan ($0.58), while the Changsha company was selling one for 5 yuan, said the report.

Some tourists said the buns sold at the theme park looked ordinary and they tasted unremarkable, according to the China News Service (CNS).

"Such comments have a negative influence on our buns. After air travel and being stored for days, the buns can't keep their original taste," Xu Lin, a spokesperson for Qingfeng, told the Global Times on Thursday, adding that the restaurant retains the right to seek legal action.

"The Qingfeng bun is a registered trademark, but the company using the buns for commercial purposes without our permission, and the inferior quality of the buns, have violated our trademark rights," Li Changgui, a lawyer for Qingfeng, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Li Mingde, a professor with the copyright research center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, disagreed with Li Changgui.

"As the buns were sold to the company legally, the company has the right to sell them again without any permission, so it has nothing to do with violating trademark rights," Li Mingde told the Global Times.

Colorful World admitted it did not have any formal cooperation with the shop.

It said the buns were sold at a higher price because of the increased costs incurred by shipping and storage, and it did nothing to the buns except heating them, the company said on its Sina Weibo on Tuesday.

"People outside Beijing who want to eat the buns will not visit Beijing just to eat the buns," said the post. "What we have done is a normal commercial activity."

The case is just one of a dozen trademark infringement cases identified by Qingfeng, said Xu, adding that the shop will confront any instances of counterfeit steamed stuffed buns.

Buns provided for deputies attending Jiangsu's provincial legislature sessions in January were not made by Qinfeng despite claims to the contrary, which also violated the company's trademark rights, Li Changgui said.

Currently, the shop owns 183 stores in Beijing and its neighboring Yanjiao town in Hebei province. After the shop earned its fame, many companies outside Beijing asked the shop to open more branches, Xu said.