"Zhongyuan Petrochemical" copying Sinopec—how much scheming is hidden behind a single character difference?

Author / Flow (Media Person) Editor / Ma Xiaolong Proofreader / Yang Li

▲ Customers expose “Zhongyuan Petrochemical” resembling “China Petrochemical”. Photo / Jimu News

When driving to a gas station, you might think you’ve entered China Petrochemical, but it could actually be Zhongyuan Petrochemical.

Recently, a netizen from Hebei posted, “I was careless, this is too much like Sinopec!” Jimu News reporters noticed that the images shared by the netizen show “Zhongyuan Petrochemical” in red background with white letters, with the letters being “SNOPEC,” which is just one character different from Sinopec’s red background and white letters, and the English alphabet is only missing an “I.” It is indeed easy to confuse them if one does not look closely. Staff at the gas station claimed that they have been operating under this name for over ten years, that they have a business license, and that the name was approved. Staff from the Luquan District Market Supervision Administration stated they would send someone to investigate on-site.

According to the gas station personnel involved, the name that has been used for more than a decade suddenly became an issue today, which seems somewhat unfair. However, looking closely at the appearance of this gas station, their intentions to mislead are quite obvious.

From the sign’s color scheme to the details of the logo, the involved gas station is highly similar to the central enterprise brand. This resemblance is hard to claim as a coincidence; it seems more like an attempt by the operator to attract customers by exploiting the habit of drivers making a “quick glance” while refueling, using a “one-character difference” to lure them in.

Such behavior essentially constitutes unfair competition in a “free-riding” manner, as it not only infringes on the registered trademark exclusive rights of legitimate brands but also disregards consumers’ rights to know and choose.

The Anti-Unfair Competition Law clearly states that “unauthorized use of product names, packaging, decoration, or other similar signs that are influential to others” and “other confusing behaviors that can mislead people into thinking they are products of others or that there is a specific connection with others” are considered unfair competition.

The Trademark Law also explicitly states that “using a trademark similar to a registered trademark on the same type of goods without the permission of the trademark registrant” constitutes infringement on the exclusive rights of the registered trademark.

However, such imitation behaviors persist despite prohibitions. Previously, numerous media reports have surfaced about counterfeit gas stations, such as “Zhongwei Petrochemical,” “Zhonggu Petrochemical,” “Shengguo Petrochemical,” and “Zhongkuo Petrochemical,” which mislead through highly similar wording; some claim to be “Petrochemical Service Areas,” cleverly merging the characteristics of China Petrochemical and service areas, misleading drivers into thinking they are service areas of China Petrochemical; others add lowercase regional locations between the words China and Petrochemical, creating a confusing mix of real and fake.

Some operators harbor luck-based thinking, believing that a “one-character difference” can evade regulation, attempting to profit by riding on brand coattails, while regulatory agencies have not been thorough in investigating such confusing businesses, and insufficient regulatory strength has also allowed fraudsters to exploit loopholes.

In this incident, the involved gas station claimed to “have a business license, and the name was approved.” If true, this exposes issues with regulatory oversight. Regulatory agencies should take proactive measures to increase the inspection and punishment of counterfeiting behaviors in the market, establish a regular regulatory mechanism, and streamline complaint channels to promptly discover and legally dismantle such “visual traps.”

For operators, it is also essential to realize that relying on “tricking” brands will not lead to long-term business success. Instead of spending effort on designing “word games” and opportunistically imitating, it is better to focus on improving service quality and product quality to build their own brand reputation.

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