LKK vows to fight against online rumors, counterfeits

LKK, a Beijing-headquartered creative design company, held news conferences on Jan 7, in four cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu – to knock down wild rumors about one of its fancy products, the 55°Cup.

The company announced that they had not launched any paid promotional campaign on Wechat’s social function, or "Pengyouquan" in Chinese.

This announcement targeted the overwhelming denouncement that many Wechat users did not receive the 55° Cup after they had been charged a delivery fee for the present in a "promotion campaign".

There were also rumors that the 55° Cup uses sodium acetate trihydrate, a cheap industrial raw material that can not be used in daily life, to cool down boiling water to a moderate temperature for people.

Such rumors made the company a target of public criticism. However, the counterfeitors should be to blame.

Jia Wei, founder of LKK, said his company had no choice but to deliver the truth to the public. It revealed two documents at the press conference; one is a national patent certificate, while another is a report by RoHS, an EU regulation, forbidding the use of hazardous substances.

Li Pan, general manager of Beijing 55°Technology Co, which was the developer team for the cup and established by LKK last October, said they use the patented physical method, not a highly questionable material to cool down or warm up the water in the cup.

They had not imagined that the cup would catch so much attention nationwide, and the counterfeits were so popular on social networking apps and some e-commerce platforms.

"The fake 55°Cups fatally hurt our LKK brand image and the interests of the consumers in particular, so we are striving to fight against the counterfeits, " Li added.

Jia Wei also called for more effective ways to protect innovative ideas and original products. He said his team would learn from the lesson and sharpen their vigilance on counterfeits.