This case is the first case of unfair competition dispute over voice instruction of intelligent products in China.

Author | Bruce

Edit | Zhao Ling

"Relax, what's the weather like tomorrow?"

"Relax, I want to listen to Mojito" ........... "

Voice interaction that begins with a specific "wake-up word" seems to be the key to opening the door to mysterious AI. Voice commands with the functions of awakening and operating products in human-computer interaction like this play an important role in the application and popularization of artificial intelligence technology in daily life.

Not long ago, Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Baidu Online Company") sued Beijing Zile Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zile Company") and its product seller Beijing Jingwei Zhicheng E-commerce Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingwei Company") to the court, demanding that the two defendants stop their actions involved and that Zile Company eliminate the influence.

Recently, the Haidian District People's Court of Beijing (hereinafter referred to as Haidian Court) made a first-instance judgment on this case, and ordered Zile Company to eliminate the influence of its unfair competition behavior, and compensated Baidu Online Company for its economic loss of 500,000 yuan and reasonable expenditure of 50,000 yuan, totaling 550,000 yuan. It is reported that this is the first case of unfair competition dispute over voice instruction of smart products in China pronounced by Haidian Court.

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"Komori Komori" or "Komori Komori"?

As the plaintiff in this case, Baidu Online Company believes that the defendant Zile Company highlighted the use of "Xiao Du" to refer to its products, and the use of "Xiao Du Xiao Du" voice command to wake up the operation constituted unfair competition.

According to public information, as early as 2065438+March 2008, Baidu has released the product "Xiaojia 1S". It is said that this product integrates the functions of videophone, mobile TV and smart speaker, and can check the weather, ask recipes, broadcast videos, tell stories and watch news.

Little Du Jia Jia 1S

Baidu's default wake-up word for small products including "small home 1S" is "small home".

The wake-up word for small 1S products at home is "small and small".

Baidu Online Company claims to be the developer and operator of "Xiaodu" AI electronic products, including "Xiaodu at home 1S" (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaodu smart speaker"). "Xiaodu Xiaodu" is a voice command used by Baidu Online Company in AI electronic products with wake-up and operation functions. After long-term use, the product names are "disinfection" and "disinfection and sterilization"

According to Baidu Online, it found that Zile Company produced and sold the same AI electronic product as the small smart speaker-Duyaya learning machine. The company highlighted the use of "Xiao Du" to refer to its products in its official website propaganda content and Du Yaya learning machine; Using the voice command "xiaoduxiaodu" in Duyaya learning machine to wake up and publicize it in official website, which confuses the public and constitutes unfair competition.

Duyaya sign

Duyaya bilingual learning machine

According to Du Yaya official website, Du Yaya Bilingual Learning Machine is a family bilingual enlightenment education project developed by Zile Company for domestic children aged 2-8. In July of 20 18, Zile Company received tens of millions of RMB pre-A financing from three early venture capital institutions in China, and at the end of March of 20 19, it received RMB 55 million A financing from Lanchi Venture Capital and Xianfeng Evergreen.

In response to Baidu Online's lawsuit, Zile Company argued that there was no prominent use of "Xiao Di" product name and "Little Dudu" voice command; Its use of the name "Duyaya" and the voice command of "Xiao Du Xiao Du" has a reasonable basis; The appearance, functions and target users of the products of the two parties are completely different, which will not confuse consumers. Jingwei Company said that it only sold one device to Baidu Online Company as evidence in this case, and deleted the product link in time after knowing the lawsuit in this case.

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Zile Company's use of "Xiaodu Xiaodu" is malicious.

After the trial, Haidian Court pointed out that after Baidu Online Company was widely used and promoted, "Xiao Di", as the product name of its smart speaker, belonged to the influential product name stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law; "xiaoduxiaodu" is an indispensable and frequent special voice command for users to use small smart speakers. The voice command has established a clear and stable connection with Baidu Online Company and its products, which has a high popularity and influence and should be protected by the fourth paragraph of Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.

Haidian Court held that, combined with the small popularity and influence, the small smart speaker and Du Yaya learning machine are similar products in terms of functions, audiences, sales channels, etc., and Zile Company's alleged behavior is subjectively malicious, objectively making the relevant public mistakenly believe that there may be product research and development, technical support and authorized cooperation between Du Yaya learning machine and Baidu Online's small smart speaker and its related services.

Accordingly, the court found that the above-mentioned behavior of Zile Company violated the provisions of Items 1 and 4 of Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and constituted unfair competition for Baidu Online Company. Jingwei Company also lacks legal basis for selling Duyaya learning machines. In the end, the court made the above judgment.

At present, Du Yaya official website no longer displays the related propaganda content about the voice instruction of "Xiao Du Xiao Du".

It is reported that as the first unfair competition dispute involving voice command of intelligent products in China, the judgment of this case effectively regulates the malicious confusion and misleading behavior of the public in the artificial intelligence product market, guides market operators to conduct healthy competition through technological innovation and other means through referees, and maintains the market competition order of artificial intelligence related products in the process of innovation and development.

The verdict of the case is also a positive response to policies such as further strengthening the judicial work against unfair competition, promoting the healthy development of intelligence and digitalization, and helping to improve the modernization level of emerging industries.

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In order to successfully "wake up AI", companies have carried out patent and trademark layout.

At present, AI intelligent interactive products such as smart speakers, smart screens and intelligent learning machines are emerging one after another in the market: Baidu's "Small Degree", Xiaomi's "Little Love Classmate", Apple's "Hi, Siri" and Microsoft's "Xiao Bing" have gradually become invisible business cards for AI interaction among enterprises.

How to get a nice, easy-to-call, easy-to-remember voice wake-up command for a product has largely become one of the keys to whether a product can catch the attention of consumers.

All enterprises have noticed this and quickly launched the relevant intellectual property layout.

For example, Huawei has applied for the invention patent of "a voice wake-up method and electronic equipment", and its technology can guarantee the probability of successful wake-up of electronic equipment in a large range.

Baidu also applied for the invention patent of "voice wake-up method, device and computer-readable medium based on lip language". This patented technology can even compare the user's lip change image with the preset change image according to the device. Once matched, it can wake up the voice interaction function, which is amazing.

Trademark is another layout focus. Baidu Xiaodi submitted a trademark application on 20 19; Xiaomi's "Little Love Classmate" was laid out from 20 17; Ali's "Tmall Elf" also began to apply for trademarks at about the same time.

But if someone else's trademark is used as a wake-up word, it is not appropriate.

As for the legal nature of this behavior, some insiders have analyzed the meaning of wake-up words in the use scene, and think that only using well-known trademarks without public association as wake-up words constitutes an act prohibited by the competition law.

This view holds that wake-up words are technical function symbols and trademarks are commercial symbols, so it is difficult to identify wake-up use as trademark use. Although, according to the provisions of Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the object of confusion must be an influential logo, and the use of other people's ordinary trademarks as wake-up words is not prohibited by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law; When the wake-up word is the same as other people's well-known trademarks, it will strengthen the technical function advantage and enhance the influence of its products because of the popularity of well-known trademarks, so that consumers mistakenly think that there is a certain business cooperation relationship between the two sides, which is naturally an act that needs to be prohibited from unfair competition. In addition, it should be noted that well-known trademarks should not be regarded as acts of unfair competition if they have associative meanings that are well known to the public, and wake-up words make use of this associative meaning. [ 1]

Then, at this stage, how to avoid similar legal disputes for the design/production/sales side of AI voice interactive products? Welcome to discuss in the message area ~