Lawyer Wang Hai has Jissbon in his sights. Photo: CFP

By Chen Yang

For most people, buying condoms is a personal matter, but a consumer surnamed Zhang in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province has made his purchase as public as possible.

Zhang bought a pack of Jissbon condoms at a Watson's store in Guangzhou in August 2009, but now he's suing Jissbon. The package indicated that "the product is authorized by Jissbon (UK) Global Company Limited and manufactured by Suretex Limited (Thailand)." In his statement of complaint Zhang said he bought Jissbon "only because it claims to be a UK brand."
 
But then he checked for his condoms on the website of the Trademark Office under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. He found that Jissbon is a domestic trademark, registered by Wuhan Jissbon Sanitary Products Company.

With legal assistance from two renowned consumer rights activists, Wang Hai and Xu Dajiang, Zhang filed a lawsuit against Wuhan Jissbon last September for posing as a UK brand to deceive customers, as well as its retailer Watson's for helping Jissbon distribute its products.

Zhang is demanding a double refund: as well as the attorney's fees of 9,315 yuan ($1,417), he wants 46 yuan ($7), double the 23 yuan he spent on the condoms. He has also proposed that the trademark office revoke Jissbon's registered trademark.

The trial, which started at the Guangzhou Tianhe People's Court last Friday, has attracted a lot of public attention, especially from those who long thought Jissbon – whose name is intended to sound like the Chinese for James Bond – was a British brand.

The name's Jissbon…

"The trial is mainly focused on whether printing Jissbon (UK) on the condom's package is fraudulent," said Wang, who is Zhang's representative lawyer.

Wang said he has provided evidence that Jissbon deliberately misleads the consumer by marketing itself as a UK brand. According to his investigation, Jissbon (UK) was registered in 2002 with a registered capital of ï¿¡1,000 ($1,622), and its stockholders are two Chinese people. Furthermore, the tax record of Jissbon (UK) in recent years was empty.

"Jissbon (UK) is just a dummy corporation, and it misled consumers to believe that Jissbon is a British brand," he said.

Jissbon said in an earlier statement that launching Jissbon (UK) was aimed at expanding into European and North American markets, but Jissbon (UK) stopped operating in 2006 after Ansell Limited, an Australian group specializing in healthcare, acquired a 75 percent interest in Wuhan Jissbon.

"Jissbon can't deny its homegrown brand origin, no matter how its company ownership changes," Wang said.
 
Wang says this is not the first time that Jissbon has deliberately misled consumers. "We found it lost a Beijing court case against Durex and paid 100,000 yuan ($15,210) in compensation in 2003, after Jissbon made false claims about its manufacturing history and global market share on its website, most of which had been copied from Durex's website," he said.

The trial's result has not been announced yet, but some are suspicious about the motives of the two consumer rights activists in accepting the case.

"We took this case mainly to raise public attention about fake foreign firms like Jissbon," said Wang. "But every time I sue a company, there will be voices saying I am getting benefits from their competitors."

Sounds better in French

Jissbon is not the only homegrown company that has created an impression that it is foreign. 

Beijing-based Order Flooring once promoted itself as a German brand with headquarters in Rosenheim, and its flooring cost was as high as 2,008 yuan ($305) per square meter. The trick was exposed in March 2006 after a CCTV crew discovered that there was no such company registered in Germany. The company was fined 7.47 million yuan ($1.14 million) by the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce and its sales have dropped sharply since then.

Foreign-sounding names are also common in the fashion industry, where an Italian or French name sounds more stylish. Many domestic fashion brands bear ambiguously foreign names such as Mark Fairwhale. There are also homegrown garment manufacturers who have registered a trademark abroad and market themselves as foreign brands.

"Having a foreign name or registering a trademark overseas is not a bad thing," said Fu Bo, CEO of Domination Marketing Group (China), a Wuhan-based agent that carried out Jissbon's marketing campaign. "But companies should focus on developing their brand value over the long term rather than tricking consumers for a short-term profit."

Wang says posing as a foreign brand makes it easier for companies to win customers' favor and trust. More importantly, it also allows them to charge higher prices.

According to a customs import declaration sheet acquired by Wang's lawyers, the cost of manufacturing a Jissbon condom is only $0.03, but its retail price is around 40 yuan ($6) for a pack of 12.

Fu thinks the name issue is irrelevant. "If Jissbon does not make good products, its name and brand origin would be useless," he said. "Customers will vote for brands they trust."

Foreign fancy

Brand experts attribute the phenomenon of foreign branding to Chinese consumers' desire for international brands.

According to consultancy firm McKinsey & Co, about 52 percent of wealthy consumers with an annual household income of over 250,000 yuan ($36,675) said they trusted foreign brands more than domestic brands in 2008, and the percentage of mainstream consumers who prefer local brands dropped to 45 percent in 2010 from 57 percent in 2007.

"You can't simply blame Chinese customers for their enthusiasm for foreign brands," said Li Guangdou, an expert on brand development in Beijing. "They want fashionable and high-quality products just like overseas customers."

Li said there is still a gap between foreign and domestic brands. "Foreign brands are usually associated with high quality and modern lifestyles," he said. "Most Chinese brands have a short history of less than 30 years, and they need more time to win consumers' trust."

But some homegrown Chinese brands are catching up fast and challenging foreign brands. "The phenomenon of posing as a foreign brand is rarely seen in the electric appliances sector, as homegrown brands such as Haier have done well in both domestic and overseas markets," Li added.