Once again caught in trademark disputes, Jinmailang faces many troubles

Jinmailang’s troubles go beyond a trademark dispute. After the “hand-made” trademark dispute, recently many consumers have found that instant noodles sold by Jinmailang labeled with the “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” TM trademarks (this mark is usually shown on trademarks that have been submitted to the trademark administrative authorities for registration but have not yet been approved for registration) have ambiguous and unclear references to the amount of noodles on the package, which has led consumers to question Jinmailang’s product trademarks again.

A Beijing Business reporter found that the noodle cake weight of Jinmailang products printed with the “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” trademarks is 110g—120g, while products without the above wording generally have noodle cake weights of 90g—100g. Regarding why the reference standard for noodle cake weight is used for products with the above trademarks, the Beijing Business reporter sent a letter and placed calls to Jinmailang for an interview, but as of the publication deadline no reply had been received. The official customer service response provided by Jinmailang’s Taobao flagship store is: “This issue is beyond the scope of customer service authority.” Legal experts believe that, based on the current situation, the “1.5 bags” trademark is in an invalid status; although the “1.5 buckets” trademark is valid, in combination with the promotional slogan “more than half the amount,” it is likely to constitute misleading false advertising.

As trademark controversies continue to heat up, Jinmailang’s development has once again attracted industry attention. According to publicly available industry data, Jinmailang is facing a market competition environment of “a wolf ahead and a tiger behind,” and falling back into trademark disputes is somewhat “adding insult to injury” for the company.

“More than half” reference standard sparks controversy

Previously, there were consumer doubts that the “hand-made” characters in the “hand-made” trademark on Jinmailang’s hand-pulled noodles caused controversy. As public opinion kept building, Jinmailang’s chairman Fan Xianguo announced a full shutdown of production of all products bearing the “hand-made” trademark, but this seemingly did not completely put an end to Jinmailang’s trademark dispute.

Recently, some consumers found that Jinmailang sells “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” instant noodles with prominent “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” slogans printed on the packaging, and both are marked with the TM trademark. In addition, there are “1.5 times” instant noodles that do not have the TM trademark printed, but the product detail pages for those items do not note any reference explanation for the “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” portion, which also raised questions among consumers.

Regarding issues related to product trademarks, the Beijing Business reporter sent an interview letter to Jinmailang and called the company’s official website phone number to request an interview. The person who answered the call said they would provide feedback and transfer the matter, but as of the publication deadline the reporter had not received any relevant response.

The Beijing Business reporter’s investigation found that, from the product itself, the noodle cake weight of instant noodles labeled with wording such as “more than half the amount,” including “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags,” is 110g—120g, while products without the above wording generally have noodle cake weights of 90g—100g. On questions regarding the noodle cake weight reference standards that concern consumers, the Beijing Business reporter, posing as a consumer, asked Jinmailang’s Taobao official flagship store customer service; the response was: “The number of grams of the noodle cake matters; use the number of grams of the noodle cake as the reference.” After repeated follow-ups, the other party said: “This issue (what exactly the reference standard is) is already beyond customer service authority,” and stated they would report it upward, but as of the publication deadline the reporter had not received more replies.

Jinmailang did not provide a clear response regarding the reference standard, but the Beijing Business reporter discovered that on the product detail pages of instant noodles packaged with the “1.5 times” wording, as well as an instant noodle product with a noodle cake of 110g labeled “1.5 bags,” there is a line of small-print notes saying: “ ‘1.5 times’ means compared with Jinmailang Chicken Sauce Noodles (70g noodle cake)” and “ ‘more than half the amount’ means compared with Jinmailang Chicken Sauce Noodles (70g noodle cake).” Notably, on Jinmailang’s official flagship stores across multiple platforms, the chicken sauce noodles product that is used as the reference could not be found via search.

Misleading commercial promotion

According to information available, the “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” series products were launched by Jinmailang in 2015 after targeting a blank in the instant noodle market for “large portions.”

Tianyancha shows that in 2015, Jinmailang applied for the “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” trademarks. Among them, the “1.5 bags” trademark is currently invalid. According to Sohu Finance and Economics, in 2020, Jinmailang’s “1.5 bags” trademark was ruled invalid by the National Intellectual Property Administration due to lack of distinctiveness and being likely to cause the public to misperceive the quantity of goods; in 2022, both the first and second instance trials upheld the original ruling.

Liu Tian, a lawyer at Beijing Dinghong Law Firm, pointed out that, considering the core rules of trademark registration and use, Article 10 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China clearly provides that signs that are deceptive or likely to cause the public to misperceive characteristics such as the quality of goods or the place of origin of goods must not be used as trademarks; and Article 44, Paragraph 1 further supplements that if a registered trademark violates Article 10, any entity or individual may request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Committee to declare the registered trademark invalid, and the Trademark Office may also declare it invalid ex officio.

“Since the ‘1.5 bags’ trademark has been ruled invalid by the National Intellectual Property Administration and has been upheld through the court’s first- and second-instance procedures, it is a sign without exclusive rights from the outset. Jinmailang should immediately stop using it. And while the ‘1.5 buckets’ trademark is currently legally valid, when it is paired with the slogan ‘more than half the amount,’ it is likely to lead consumers to mistakenly believe that the quantity increases by 50%. This constitutes misleading false advertising prohibited by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China. The core legal risk of these trademarks is not the lack of distinctiveness of the standalone designation, but rather the deception and misperception it guides consumers into after being combined with the slogan,” Liu Tian said.

Liu Qing, a lawyer at Beijing Hengdu Law Firm, said that under Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China, operators may not make false or misleading commercial publicity about the performance, functions, quality, etc. of their goods, in order to cheat or mislead consumers. Meanwhile, under Article 28 of the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China, if an advertisement deceives or misleads consumers with false or misleading content, it constitutes false advertising. Based on the facts, Jinmailang registered the “1.5 buckets” and “1.5 bags” as trademarks and prominently used them on the packaging, while pairing them with slogans such as “more than half the amount.” From the direct perception of ordinary consumers, it is easy to understand that the actual amount increases by 50% compared with the quantity of typical products. In addition, by designating a specific reference product for comparison using small-font labeling, this practice itself is already suspected of circumventing regulation in a covert way. From a legal standpoint, this conduct falls within the category of “misleading commercial publicity” regulated by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China, constituting false advertising. The market regulatory authorities may, based on this law, order the cessation of unlawful conduct and impose a fine.

Instant noodle market: “wolves in front, tigers behind”

As issues about product trademarks keep being raised, Jinmailang’s development has once again come under market scrutiny.

Jinmailang was founded in 1994. Its predecessor was Hualong Food Group. Its business spans two major categories: noodles and beverages. Starting from noodles, it expanded into beverages; its product lineup covers instant noodles, hanging noodles, flour, beverages, and more.

Since announcing its IPO plan in 2017, Jinmailang has repeatedly been rumored to be preparing for a listing, but it has not happened for a long time. By contrast, its “old rival” Kangshifu and Uni-President have already successfully listed on capital markets.

Because Jinmailang has not yet gone public, the company’s specific detailed financial report data is still unknown. However, according to multiple market information sources, Jinmailang’s development seems to be facing some problems. According to the years of private-enterprise information published by the Hebei Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, from 2019 to 2021, Jinmailang’s revenue was 21.8488 billion yuan, 24.0429 billion yuan, and 24.1455 billion yuan, respectively. Then it declined year by year; in 2022 Jinmailang’s revenue fell to 19.08B yuan, and in 2023 it declined further to 16.57 billion yuan.

As a pillar of Jinmailang, its instant noodle business market share has also shrunk. Industry data shows that Jinmailang, which has long held the “top three” position in the instant noodle industry, has fallen to fourth place since 2023, behind Kangshifu, Uni-President, and White Elephant. Also according to MaShangYing data, in 2025 Q4, Jinmailang still ranked fourth in China’s instant noodle market, and its market share also declined year over year. Meanwhile, Samyang behind Jinmailang, using hot chicken-flavored noodles to tap into the younger market, has seen its market share rise and is now actively catching up.

A well-known crisis public relations expert and partner of Fuzhou Gongsun Ce PR, Zhan Junhao, said that frequent trademark disputes have a certain relationship with business operations. “When product innovation and brand upgrading are lacking, some companies may use low-cost word games to maintain market attention. This is a short-sighted behavior that shifts the marketing focus from the value of the product itself to ‘playing with concepts.’ Companies should recognize that brand trust is the foundation for long-term growth; they must find a balance between performance pressure and honest operations, and put resources into genuine product innovation and quality improvement,” Zhan Junhao said.

In the view of Zhu Danpeng, a food industry analyst in China, at this stage when China’s fast-moving consumer goods market has become highly “overcrowded,” many companies in recent years have been building differentiated products to tug at consumers’ hearts. But overall, the first priority is to ensure compliance, legality, and reasonableness—otherwise, it cannot stand up to consumers’ scrutiny, nor can it pass market testing, nor can it get through the national regulatory gate. Companies should still base themselves on reality, do a good job on quality, and do a good job on the supply chain.

Beijing Business reporter Guo Xijuan Wang Yuetong