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Tencent
AbacusCulture

Someone trademarked a popular WeChat emoji and netizens are mad

They’re also laughing at Tencent being ripped off for a change

Reading Time:2 minutes
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Last month, the facepalm emoji trademark was approved to a Jin Zhaoping, who has nothing to do with Tencent. (Picture: Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the People’s Republic of China)
Xinmei Shen
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

People in China discovered that one of the country’s favorite WeChat emojis just got registered as a trademark… but it wasn’t by WeChat’s maker, Tencent.

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The trademark for the facepalm emoji is now held by a person in a Zhejiang county, who filed it for use on clothing, a Chongqing newspaper reported. That story is one of the most popular on Weibo today.
Users are blasting the person who registered the emoji: “This is a typical trademark squatter,” one of the most like user comments said. “They have no respect for originality.”
Last month, the facepalm emoji trademark was approved to a Jin Zhaoping, who has nothing to do with Tencent. (Picture: Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the People’s Republic of China)
Last month, the facepalm emoji trademark was approved to a Jin Zhaoping, who has nothing to do with Tencent. (Picture: Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the People’s Republic of China)
While defending Tencent, a lot of people also find the situation quite ironic because Tencent itself is not known for its originality: Lots of Tencent games are, uh, “inspired” by others.
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Even though this isn’t quite the same thing, and two wrongs don’t make a right, people are taking this chance to make fun of the company. Some are saying that now Tencent knows what it’s like to have their copyright violated.
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