Major news! RELX sues VICIG and factory partner Moke over compatible pods

On June 16, according to Blue Hole New Consumption, RELX, a leading domestic e-cigarette brand in China, recently filed a lawsuit with a court in Guangdong, formally suing VICIG and its factory partner Dongguan Moke over an unfair competition dispute.

The lawsuit involves two defendants: VICIG Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Dongguan Moke Technology Co., Ltd.

As is well known, pods are one of the key profit drivers for every brand in the vaping industry. Therefore, being responsible for self-developed vaping devices and pods for specific models is a matter of product safety, business ethics, and social responsibility that every company should uphold.

In its complaint, RELX stated that, without authorization, VICIG privately authorized Moke to mass-produce and sell, promote, and market pods compatible with certain RELX device models—namely universal compatible pods. RELX said VICIG widely used phrases such as "RELX-compatible pods" and "RELX and VICIG pods can be used interchangeably" in sales and promotional materials, leveraging RELX’s brand recognition to attract consumers and gain improper benefits.

RELX believes that the RELX and VICIG marks are highly similar, and when both are used in the vaping sector, they are likely to mislead consumers into believing that VICIG’s products are part of the RELX brand or that the two have a specific connection.

RELX further argues that VICIG’s universal compatibility practice is essentially a form of imitation, with a clear intent to piggyback on another brand’s and product’s reputation and to appropriate the fruits of others’ work. RELX says the related acts of unfair competition have caused it losses and should give rise to liability for damages.

The complaint also states that these alleged acts of unfair competition are bound to divert RELX vaping device users, expose some RELX products to the risk of substantial substitution, and allow VICIG to gain more transaction opportunities by capitalizing on RELX’s brand awareness and goodwill. RELX argues that such conduct violates the principles of good faith and business ethics, not only causing RELX to lose more business opportunities and suffer commercial losses, but also objectively undermining the innovation incentive mechanism in the vaping market and disrupting normal market competition.

On this basis, RELX claims that VICIG and Moke violated China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law, that their conduct constitutes unfair competition, and that they should bear legal liability including ceasing the infringement, compensating losses, and eliminating adverse effects.

According to information from the China Trial Process Information Disclosure Network, the court’s case filing division approved the case for docketing on June 2, and it was transferred to the trial division on June 3.

As the relevant evidence in this case has not yet been made public, more detailed information about the case is not currently available to outsiders.