Wang Lei Realised His Logo Was “Stolen” in China & Therefore Couldn’t Sell His Coffee There

Despite the numerous stories of local businesses folding due to COVID-19, there’s one success story that makes all Singaporeans proud: the story of Wang Lei.

The actor is also a getai host and singer, and suffice to say, the cancellation of getai would’ve cost him dearly; after all, some people claim that they could’ve earned up to $10,000 in that single month.

The 60-year-old is now more well-known as a Facebook livestreamer, selling anything from seafood to…er, herbal chicken.

While he said that he’d still go back to getai in a heartbeat, he admitted that the earnings for doing one hour of livestreaming on Facebook are two to three times more than one getai show.

But what you probably didn’t know is that the expletive-laden livestreams have also garnered fans from Malaysia, Taiwan and most importantly, the biggest market of all: China.

Even though Facebook is banned in China, netizens have re-uploaded his videos to Chinese platforms like Weibo or Douyin, with Chinese netizens looking to bypass the Facebook ban so that they can view him live.

Wang Lei has since started to sell his items to these regions as well, and even used his brand to sell other products like Chinese New Year cookies and T-shirts.

But now, he’s hit a roadblock.

Realised His Logo Was ‘Stolen’ in China & Therefore Couldn’t Sell His Coffee There

On Wednesday, Wang Lei posted this lengthy post on his Facebook page that has well over 993k followers:

He said that everyone knows this logo belongs to him since April last year, and has filed a trademark for it in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and China in July 2020.

However, he just got notified that his trademark application in China has been rejected because it’s apparently being trademarked…by a certain Mr Feng from Fujian province in June 2020.

Yes, he was late by a month.

He hoped to appeal with the help of netizens to prove that the logo belongs to him.

On his next post, he posted an image of himself posing with the logo, claiming that the image was taken back in April or May last year.

So, by now, you should be wondering: why not change his logo for the China market? After all, remember: Don Don Donki’s original name is actually Don Quijote in other countries, but it has to change its name to Don Don Donki as the name Don Quijote is taken by a restaurant in Singapore. Look at where Don Don Donki is now.

However, it’s not that simple for Wang Lei.

In a follow-up post, he said that he has produced a shipment of coffee with this brand, and said that if he tried to sell them in China, it would be classified as “pirated” and be confiscated by the authorities:

According to his online store, two bags of his coffee sell between $14 to $16.

Well, it appears that he’s going to get angrier in his next livestream.

Featured Image: Facebook (Wang Lei 王雷)