Recently, Lotus announced on social media that it has officially rectified its name and renamed itself “Lianhua Sports Car”. Back in 1948, a young British man founded the Lianhua Sports Car Company (Lotus Cars) in London. Later, this automobile brand came under the ownership of Geely Holding Group. However, in China, relevant trademark names such as “Lianhua” (the Chinese character for “lotus”), its Pinyin “Lianhua”, “Hehua” (the Chinese character for “lotus flower”), its Pinyin “Hehua”, and the English term “Lotus” corresponding to “lotus” had all been registered by others previously.
Lao Yang, a trademark consultant from Putui Intellectual Property, stated that he had seen advertisements for this automobile brand before. Initially, he thought the name “Lutesi” (the former Chinese transliteration of “Lotus”) sounded somewhat like a copycat of “Tesla”; later, he learned that “Lutesi” is actually the transliteration of the English word “Lotus”. It is reported that the application for the “Lianhua” – related trademarks started in 2019, and the registration certificate was not successfully obtained until 2024, taking a total of five years. During this period, the trademark application was first rejected, followed by a review against the rejection, which failed for the first time. A turning point came in 2022, when the trademarks “Lianhua” and “Lotus” were transferred from Hehua Group to Geely Automobile. After that, Geely launched a second review response and review against the rejection, and finally passed the preliminary examination to successfully secure the trademarks.
A single English word trademark is equivalent to a Chinese character trademark; “Lianhua” and “Lotus” are also considered identical or similar trademarks to each other. Therefore, they must be transferred simultaneously during trademark assignment, and the confirmation of rights can also be obtained for both together.