195 1 year, the then Zhiwei Thomson Chicago Company began to create an image for De Beers. "A diamond is eternal, and an eternity" is a classic created at that time.
The advertising slogan "A diamond lasts forever, and a diamond will last forever" is controversial! Because De Beers, a diamond dealer, applied for trademark registration, but domestic jewelers think this is outrageous in foreign countries, how can advertising quotation be used as a trademark? At the same time, it is pointed out that the old trademark law clearly stipulates that this advertising word cannot be used as a trademark, but the new version has been deleted. If de beers doesn't give in, they will fight to the end.
The catchy advertising slogan "A diamond lasts forever, a legend lasts forever" can't be used casually in the future, because De Beers, the global diamond market leader, has obtained the trademark registration, but it also makes the domestic jewelry industry furious. Besides thinking that De Beers, who started his business in China because of them, was arrogant, he even questioned the process of registering a trademark.
Xu, chairman of Taiwan Province Gold, Silver and Jewelry Association, said that De Beers suddenly applied to the Intellectual Property Office for trademark registration with the phrase "A diamond is immortal", which caused dissatisfaction in the jewelry industry, because our industry funded them to cooperate with the advertisement. Now De Beers has registered a trademark with this sentence, and jewelry associations in three counties and cities across the country/kloc-0 have raised trademark objections. Beixian Jewelry Association is the first case to enter the administrative court.
Indeed, in1June 5438+065438+1October, it was clearly stated that "diamonds last forever, and one will last forever" is an advertising word and cannot be used as a trademark application. However, in the new edition of 65438+ 10, the case was taken away, and De Beers, who had applied for many years, obtained the trademark right at the end of 1992.
Hong Shumin, deputy director of the Trademark Office of the Intelligence Bureau, pointed out that "a diamond lasts forever" originated from De Beers' English trademark "ADIAMONDISFOREVERDEBEERS" and was used as an advertisement from 1990. Therefore, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled yesterday that the trademark registration was legal, and the North County Gold and Silver Jewelry Association lost the case. There is no ambiguity in the middle.
Although the Intellectual Property Office denied helping De Beers open the door, the domestic jewelry association said it would continue to appeal, and the trademark war triggered by advertising slogans is likely to continue to spread.
De Beers, Predator of Diamond Price Manipulation
Some economists believe that the artificially high price of diamonds is not determined by the relationship between supply and demand in the market at all. It is natural that monopolists like De Beers play with the price of diamonds. Since the establishment of 1888, De Beers has become synonymous with diamonds. De Beers also evaluates diamonds and sells most of the uncut diamonds in the world to the diamond cutting center, which cuts and grinds them for use in jewelry. De Beers is a global leader in diamond mining industry, operating 65,438+09 diamond mines, producing more than half of the world's diamonds. Diamonds mined from these mines and diamonds obtained from other sources are sold by De Beers' central marketing agency in London.
In fact, the U.S. Department of Justice once sued De Beers for monopoly, and now the company's top executives are generally afraid to set foot on American land, otherwise they may receive a subpoena from the court at the airport. It is undeniable that De Beers does control the market price of diamonds by controlling the supply of diamonds. De Beers only promised 125 Jewelry Cutting Company to buy rough diamonds directly from them. This 125 diamond cutting company is a customer of De Beers Center, and the insiders call it "De Beers 125". De Beers' central marketing organization holds 10 diamond appreciation activities every year to sell uncut rough diamonds to customers, and at the same time, De Beers' central marketing organization often keeps close contact with major diamond cutting centers around the world. The selling price is completely determined unilaterally. De Beers sells diamonds together. Diamonds of different sizes and qualities are placed in sealed plastic bags with price tags attached to them. "De Beers 125" has no bargaining right, they can only decide whether to buy or not. Only when the weight of a single diamond is above 10.8 carat, the bargaining space is very small. In doing so, De Beers actually controlled the price of diamonds from the source.
In the past, some small companies tried to sell their rough diamonds, but they were madly retaliated by De Beers. The method of revenge is simple. As long as De Beers asks its central marketing agency to release a large amount of diamond reserves in a short time, the price of diamonds will plummet, and small companies simply cannot afford such a price war. But now, diamond miners are gradually competing with De Beers. These companies mainly mine diamonds in Africa, Australia and Canada, and their business is booming. All the diamonds that Cabin Kiel bought in Angola were sold to an Israeli diamond tycoon who started his business 30 years ago. Now, the diamond dealer has completely excluded De Beers from Angola and started to threaten De Beers' traditional control over Russian mining. In order to regain the absolute monopoly position, De Beers began to play the trick of enlarging the trading volume. During 1999 and 2000, De Beers suddenly launched a diamond stock worth $5 billion to the market, and the market price fell sharply, but it did not completely collapse, which confirmed that the relationship between supply and demand can still restrict the diamond price. At the same time, De Beers' competitors have gradually grown up. De Beers himself tasted the bitter fruit of arbitrary price manipulation. In 2000, the company faced the problem of insufficient supply of raw stone and had to start emergency reserve.
Global attention to "blood diamond"
Diamonds are often associated with blood and war. As early as ancient times, tribal leaders in southern India fought for the ownership of diamond mines there and launched the most tragic civil war in India's early days. The most famous diamond war was the Lebanese civil war from 1970 to 1980, which was secretly funded by Lebanese businessmen and diamond smugglers in Sierra Leone. In the 1990s, civil strife in Angola was caused by diamonds. Jonas Savimbi, an Angolan diamond tycoon, set up his own army to fight against the government in order to seize the diamond-producing areas in the country. Jonas Savimbi reached a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1992. In the next seven years, he hired more than 65438+ ten thousand semi-slave diggers to work for him. The total value of diamonds mined in seven years is about $4 billion. There are also some African rebels who plundered diamond-producing areas by bloody means of waging civil war, and illegally exploited and sold rough diamonds that were unprocessed or simply cut and partially polished to raise military expenses. Diamonds that enter the market from their hands are called "blood diamonds". At present, the international community has launched the Kimberly Process International Certification Scheme for Rough Diamonds, which prohibits blood diamonds from entering the market, and it has been officially implemented in 39 countries and regions, including China. According to this system, exporters must issue official certificates for rough diamonds or semi-finished diamonds exported, indicating the value, quantity, weight and grade of diamonds. Importers can only allow imports after verifying the official certificate of the exporting country is correct.