Audi Has Not Split: What the Trademark Registry Shows / 奥迪并未“分家”：商标公告簿说明了什么

On October 26, Audi China signed strategic agreements with FAW and SAIC Motor respectively; the catchphrase “the four rings go to FAW, the wordmark goes to SAIC” went viral, and “Audi splits up” became the laziest headline. Yet open the trademark gazette of the China National Intellectual Property Administration and not a single character has changed in the registrant column — the four rings are still the four rings of Audi AG, and the wordmark is still Audi AG’s wordmark.

10 月 26 日，奥迪中国分别与中国一汽、上汽集团签署战略协议，”四环归一汽、字母标归上汽”的说法随之刷屏，”奥迪分家”成了最省事的标题。可是翻开国家知识产权局的商标公告簿，注册人一栏一个字都没有改——四环还是奥迪股份公司（AUDI AG）的四环，字母也还是奥迪股份公司的字母。

In the author’s view, this so-called “split” has not happened as a matter of law: what changed is not brand ownership but the allocation of badge use within a single rights holder. This article takes up several of the most widespread misreadings and clarifies them one by one, starting from the gazette.

笔者认为，这场所谓的”分家”在法律上并没有发生：变的不是品牌归属，而是同一权利人内部的车标使用分工。本文拟就几个流传最广的误读，从公告簿出发逐一澄清。

The “Split” Reshuffles the Badge on the Hood, Not the Brand

“分家”分的是车头那块标，不是品牌

Stripped to its essence, this adjustment comes down to one thing: which design a vehicle displays on its badge going forward. NEV models carrying the wordmark and those carrying the four rings now diverge on the product line — wordmark models show a row of “AUDI” lettering on the hood; four-ring models keep the four interlinked rings as their badge.

这次调整的全部内容，说穿了只有一件事：未来新生产的车辆，车标位置贴哪个图样。挂字母标的新能源车与挂四环标的车，从此在产品线上各走各路——贴字母标的车型，车头是一排”AUDI”字样；贴四环标的车型，车标依旧是四个相连的圆环。

Does “the wordmark went to SAIC” hold up? Look at FAW first. FAW Audi’s official site still uses the Audi wordmark today. The wordmark has not left FAW, and is unlikely to leave it — a company that has built Audis for over thirty years writes “Audi” across sales, service, and its user community at every turn. Now SAIC. The SAIC Audi site saic-audi.cn still opens with four rings on its homepage; the four rings have not left SAIC either, at least with no sign of doing so for now.

“字母标归了上汽”，经得起检验吗？先看一汽。一汽奥迪官网至今仍在使用 Audi 字母标。字母标并没有离开一汽，往后也很难离开——一家造了三十多年奥迪的公司，销售、售后、用户社区处处都要写”Audi”两个字。再看上汽。上汽奥迪官网 saic-audi.cn 的首页迎面仍是四个圆环，四环同样没有离开上汽，至少在目前没有任何离开的迹象。

Why do both checks fail? Because in law, what Audi can dispose of is a whole set of brand symbols: the Chinese “奥迪”, the English “Audi”, the four-ring device, and their respective design variants. This adjustment changed none of those correspondences — the car is still called Audi, “AUDI” is still pronounced “奥迪”, the four circles still stand for Audi, and the mapping among the Chinese name, the English name, and the device is unchanged. The change sits at a very narrow level: which product line gets to show which design first on the hood.

为什么两个检验都不过？因为在法律上，可供奥迪支配的是一整套品牌符号：中文”奥迪”、英文”Audi”、四环图形，以及它们各自的图样变体。这次调整没有改动其中任何一组对应关系——车还叫奥迪，AUDI 还念”奥迪”，四个圈还代表奥迪，中文名、英文名与图形之间的指向一如既往。变化只发生在一个很小的层面上：哪条产品线的车，车头优先展示哪个图样。

An everyday example makes it clear. One company prints only a wordmark on product A’s box and only a device mark on product B’s box — no one would say that company’s brand has “split.” What Audi has done is essentially the same: it makes the two sides’ cars easier to tell apart, so consumers see more clearly that these are two product series (without hindering their coming from the same company).

举一个身边的例子就明白了。同一家公司，A 产品的包装盒上只印文字标，B 产品的包装盒上只印图形标——没有人会说这家公司的品牌”分了家”。奥迪做的事，本质上与此无异：让两边的车在外观上更容易区分，让消费者更清楚这是两个产品系列（但不妨碍他们来自同一家）。

Look at the gazette and what moved was not ownership either. Neither trademark was assigned, so none of the issues under Article 42 of the Trademark Law arise — “where a registered trademark is assigned, the trademark registrant shall assign together the similar trademarks registered on the same goods…” — nor is approval of the assignment by the Trademark Office required; what moved was only the arrangement of the license to use — who, on which product line, at which position, restricted to which design. The licensor did not change, the registrant did not change; reallocating usage rights is not partitioning assets.

从公告簿看，动的也不是所有权。两件商标既未转让，就不发生《商标法》第四十二条项下”转让注册商标的，商标注册人对其在同一种商品上注册的近似的商标……应当一并转让”的问题，也无须商标局核准转让；动的只是使用许可的安排——谁、在哪条产品线上、在哪个位置、限制用哪件图样。许可人没换，注册人没换，用权重划不是分产析产。

Why the Cut Was Made: Clearing a Path for NEVs, Holding the Line for Fuel Vehicles

为什么要这么切：给新能源开路，替燃油守盘

The motive for separate licenses is not legal but commercial: keep SAIC’s NEVs from undercutting FAW Audi’s fuel-vehicle base.

分开许可的动机不在法律，在生意：不让上汽的新能源车去冲击一汽奥迪燃油基本盘。

The arithmetic is simple. Since the SAIC Audi project launched in 2016, the north and south channels have sold under the same set of marks for nearly a decade. According to public reports, Audi’s deliveries in China have declined year by year from a 2023 peak of about 729,000 units to about 617,500 in 2025, and about 305,300 in the first three quarters of 2026, down more than 20% year on year; the contribution of the China business to the Audi group’s profit shrank in tandem. With the pie shrinking, the internal fight continues: in 2025 FAW Audi retailed 570,088 units and SAIC Audi 47,258; the wordmark NEV model E5 Sportback peaked above 2,600 monthly sales but fell to just 300 by September 2026, with terminals offering 30,000 yuan in discounts. The intra-mark friction is plain to see.

这笔账不难算。自 2016 年上汽奥迪项目启动以来，南北两个渠道挂着同一套标卖了近十年。据公开报道，奥迪在华交付量从 2023 年约 72.9 万辆的峰值逐年下滑，2025 年约 61.75 万辆，2026 年前三季度约 30.53 万辆、同比跌逾两成；中国业务对奥迪集团的利润贡献同步缩水。盘子在缩水，内部还在打架：2025 年一汽奥迪零售 570,088 辆，上汽奥迪 47,258 辆；字母标新能源车型 E5 Sportback 最高月销 2600 多辆，到 2026 年 9 月只剩 300 辆，终端还给出 3 万元优惠。同标内耗，可见一斑。

In this situation, hanging the entire NEV product line on a brand-new wordmark is a two-birds-one-stone arrangement. If it sells well, the credit goes to the wordmark and it need not fight the four rings’ fuel base for the title of “orthodox”; if it sells poorly, it is the wordmark’s own reputation that takes the hit, and the luxury associations the four rings built up over years are at least one layer less entangled. Using a redesigned wordmark as the exclusive identifier for SAIC’s NEV products lets consumers tell the two sides apart at a glance on the hood — exactly the physical separation the rights holder wants.

在这种局面下，把新能源产品线整体挂到一枚全新的字母标上，是一石二鸟的安排。卖得好，功劳记在字母标头上，不必与四环的燃油基盘争”正统”之名；卖得不好，砸的也是字母标自己的场子，四环多年攒下的豪华联想至少少受一层牵连。用一枚换过图样的新字母标充当上汽新能源产品的专用标识，消费者在车头一眼就能分清两边的车——这正是权利人想要的物理隔离。

So this cut was not aimed at splitting the brand in two in law — which it could not do anyway — but at stopping the two product lines from consuming each other in the market. The role of the new wordmark is less “the half of the estate carved off” than a screen standing in the middle: on this side of the screen, the four rings keep serving their fuel customers; on that side, the wordmark goes to make its own way in the red ocean of electrification. Once this layer is understood, the other details in the gazette fall into place.

所以这刀切下去，图的不是在法律上把品牌切成两半——法律上它也切不动——而是让自家两个产品线在市场上别再互相消耗。新字母标在这里扮演的角色，与其说是”分出去的半边家产”，不如说是一面挡在中间的屏风：屏风这边，四环继续服务它的燃油用户；屏风那边，字母标去电动化的红海里自己闯。看懂了这一层，公告簿上的其他细节就都顺理成章了。

Two Generations in the Gazette: the 1986 Founders and the Renewed Designs

公告簿上的两代人：1986 年的元老标与换新的图样

Neither of the two designs now licensed is a “new invention”: the four-ring-and-wordmark pair was registered in China on the very same day back in 1986.

这次许可的两件图样都不是”新发明”：四环与字母标这对搭档，早在 1986 年就同一天在中国注册。

The archival record shows that trademark No. 241120, the “Audi” wordmark, and trademark No. 241121, the four-ring device, were both applied for on February 26, 1985, approved for registration on January 15, 1986, on the same day and in the same class 12 (vehicles and other means of transport), with Audi AG as registrant. Over forty years, both marks have been renewed — the most recent procedural announcement in the file is the trademark renewal announcement of December 13, 2025. Under Article 40 of the Trademark Law, a registered trademark is valid for ten years and can be renewed indefinitely by applying before expiry; this pair of founders remains valid, with no reason in sight to stop.

公告档案显示，第 241120 号”Audi”字母商标与第 241121 号四环图形商标，均于 1985 年 2 月 26 日提出申请、1986 年 1 月 15 日核准注册，同日、同在第 12 类（汽车等运输工具），注册人均为奥迪股份公司。四十年间，两件标各自办过续展——档案里最近的一条流程公告，是 2025 年 12 月 13 日的注册商标续展公告。依《商标法》第四十条，注册商标的有效期为十年，期满前办理续展便可以一直延续下去；这对元老标至今有效，而且看不到停下来的理由。

The four rings licensed to the FAW side today are device trademark No. 8567227, applied for in 2010 and registered in 2021. Compared with the 1986 founder design, the new design adds dimensionality and sheen — the rings gain highlights and depth, but the skeleton and distinctive portion of the design are unchanged. The design evolves; the trademark is still the same trademark.

今天许可给一汽系使用的四环，是 2010 年申请、2021 年注册的第 8567227 号图形商标。与 1986 年的元老图样相比，新图样增加了立体感与光泽——环面有了高光和层次，图案的骨架与显著识别部分并没有变。图样在进化，商标还是那件商标。

Likewise, what is licensed to the SAIC side this time is not the 1986 handwritten “Audi” either, but the designed “AUDI” trademark No. 80138328, applied for in August 2024 and approved for registration in February 2025: a geometric sans-serif, all four letters capitalized and spaced apart, distinct from the original registered design’s font and casing. In other words, the so-called “wordmark went to SAIC” refers to a renewed, upgraded designed mark — younger even than the four rings’ new design, it only got its registration in 2025.

同样，这次许可给上汽系使用的，也不是 1986 年那件手写体的”Audi”，而是 2024 年 8 月申请、2025 年 2 月核准注册的第 80138328 号设计体”AUDI”商标：几何化的无衬线字体，四个字母全部大写、间距拉开，与原注册图样的字体及大小写有所区别。换言之，所谓”字母标归上汽”，归的是一枚换新升级的设计体图样——它比四环的新图样还要年轻，2025 年才拿到注册。

The Licensing Picture: Both Sides Hold the Chinese Name and the Rings, and Neither Lost the Wordmark

许可现状：中文名、四环两家都有，字母标两家也都没断

Spreading out the current license filings in the gazette, the “split” story stands even weaker: the most valuable marks are held by both sides.

把公告簿上现行的许可备案摊开看，”分家”的说法更站不住：最值钱的几件标，两家手里都有。

Article 43 of the Trademark Law requires a licensor to record with the Trademark Office the licensing of its registered trademark to another party, so the recordal announcement is the most authoritative entry point for checking the current licensing picture. Let us go through them one by one.

《商标法》第四十三条要求许可人将许可他人使用注册商标的情况报商标局备案，备案公告因此是核查许可现状最权威的入口。逐件看下去。

One type of license is worth stating up front: all these filings record ordinary licenses. An ordinary license means the licensor retains the right to use the trademark itself and may sublicense a third party — it is precisely the word “ordinary” that leaves room for “the same mark licensed to two parties at once.” So “both sides holding the mark” is not the leftover of a split but an option written into the license type itself.

还有一层许可类型值得先说破：这几份备案写的都是普通许可。普通许可意味着许可人保留自己使用商标的权利，也可以再许可第三人使用——恰恰是”普通”两个字，给”同一件标同时许可给两家”留好了位置。所以”两家手里都有标”不是分家分出来的残局，而是许可类型本身写明的选项。

Start with the Chinese name. The “奥迪” word trademark No. 92626193 was recorded in the June 2024 Trademark Gazette, Issue 1890, as licensed to Audi FAW New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., for the term April 29, 2024 to April 29, 2029; and in the April 2025 Trademark Gazette, Issue 1930, again recorded as licensed to SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd., for the term January 1, 2025 to July 20, 2032. Both are ordinary licenses and currently in effect. So whether a four-ring car or a wordmark car, both can still be called “Audi.”

先看中文名。第 92626193 号”奥迪”文字商标，2024 年 6 月《商标公告》第 1890 期备案许可给奥迪一汽新能源汽车有限公司，期限自 2024 年 4 月 29 日至 2029 年 4 月 29 日；2025 年 4 月《商标公告》第 1930 期又备案许可给上汽大众汽车有限公司，期限自 2025 年 1 月 1 日至 2032 年 7 月 20 日。两份许可类型同为普通许可，目前均在有效期内。所以无论是四环标的车还是字母标的车，都还可以叫”奥迪”。

Now the four rings. Device trademark No. 8567227 was likewise licensed to two parties: recorded in the June 2021 Trademark Gazette, Issue 1746, as licensed to SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd., for the term August 21, 2021 to February 15, 2030; and in the June 2024 Trademark Gazette, Issue 1890, as licensed to Audi FAW New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., for the term April 29, 2024 to April 29, 2029. Both licenses are in effect — that the SAIC-side four-ring cars can still sell normally through the end of 2027 can be inferred as a hood-badge arrangement in the agreement; beyond the agreement, the gazette already spells out each side’s cutoff dates (unless a later license recordal is revoked early).

再看四环。第 8567227 号图形商标同样许可给了两家：2021 年 6 月《商标公告》第 1746 期备案许可给上汽大众汽车有限公司，期限自 2021 年 8 月 21 日至 2030 年 2 月 15 日；2024 年 6 月《商标公告》第 1890 期备案许可给奥迪一汽新能源汽车有限公司，期限自 2024 年 4 月 29 日至 2029 年 4 月 29 日。两份许可均在有效期内——上汽侧的四环车 2027 年底前仍可正常销售可以推测是协议上对车头车标使用的安排，协议之外的公告簿上，备案早写好了各自的截止日（除非后续许可备案被提前撤销）。

On the wordmark side, the new designed mark No. 80138328 was indeed recorded as licensed only to SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd., for the term February 7, 2025 to February 6, 2035. But the story does not end there: Audi’s ordinarily-fonted “Audi” trademark No. 8567232, registered in 2010, was also recorded in June 2024 as licensed to Audi FAW New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., for the term April 29, 2024 to April 29, 2029, likewise valid.

字母标这边，新设计体第 80138328 号确实只备案许可给了上汽大众汽车有限公司，期限自 2025 年 2 月 7 日至 2035 年 2 月 6 日。但故事没有到此为止：奥迪 2010 年注册的普通字体第 8567232 号”Audi”商标，2024 年 6 月亦备案许可给了奥迪一汽新能源汽车有限公司，期限自 2024 年 4 月 29 日至 2029 年 4 月 29 日，同样有效。

FAW’s continued use of the Audi wordmark on its official site pages is precisely backed by the license under No. 8567232.

一汽在官网页面上继续使用 Audi 字母标，也正有着第 8567232 号许可作支撑。

So the question arises: can the FAW side, holding the ordinarily-fonted “AUDI”, use the newly designed “AUDI”? First look at the reach of the law. Article 56 of the Trademark Law provides that the exclusive right to use a registered trademark extends to the trademark as approved for registration and the goods as approved for use; Article 49, from the other direction, requires the registrant not to alter the registered trademark on its own, and where it alters the distinctive character and refuses to correct, the registration may even be cancelled. Read together, the line is drawn: so long as the design actually used has not changed the distinctive portion of the registered trademark, it generally still falls within the reach of the exclusive right; conversely, only when the change reaches the distinctive character does it count as “altering the registered trademark on one’s own.”

那么问题来了：一汽系拿着普通字体的”AUDI”，能不能用新设计体的”AUDI”？先看法律的射程。《商标法》第五十六条规定，注册商标的专用权，以核准注册的商标和核定使用的商品为限；第四十九条则从反面要求注册人不得自行改变注册商标，改变显著特征且拒不改正的，还可能被撤销注册。两条合起来读，界线就画出来了：实际使用的图样只要没有改变注册商标的显著识别部分，一般仍落在注册商标专用权的射程之内；反过来，改到显著特征都变了，才谈得上”自行改变注册商标”。

What is the relation between the designed “AUDI” and the ordinarily-fonted “AUDI”? The letter composition, pronunciation, and how it is called are identical; the only difference lies in the font design and casing. In the author’s view, on the premise that the distinctive portion is not changed, it is generally likely that the license of the ordinarily-fonted mark covers use of the designed version — in other words, the road for FAW to use the new designed wordmark is not blocked (subject to whether there is commercial need to use this version at all, and to any other contractual constraints).

设计体的”AUDI”与普通字体的”AUDI”是什么关系？字母构成、发音、呼叫完全相同，差别只在字体设计与大小写排布。笔者认为，在未改变显著识别部分的前提下，一般情况下很可能认为对普通字体商标的许可涵盖设计体图样的使用——换言之，一汽使用新设计体字母标之路并没有被堵死（就看商业上有没有必要非用这个版本以及有无其他协议约束了）。

Conclusion: No Need to Overread It

结语：不必过度解读

Completing the four steps above, the conclusion is already laid out in the gazette: AUDI is still Audi’s AUDI, and the four rings are still Audi’s four rings; whichever badge sits on the hood, the correspondence among Chinese name, English name, and device is unchanged, and the Audi AG in the registrant column has not changed either. What the so-called “trademark split” can cut open is the arrangement of the use license; what it cannot cut is the single rights holder.

把上面四步走完，结论已经摆在公告簿上了：AUDI 还是奥迪的 AUDI，四环也还是奥迪的四环；无论车头贴哪块标，中文名、英文名与图形的对应关系没有变，权利人一栏里的奥迪股份公司更没有变。所谓”商标分家”切得开的是使用许可的安排，切不开的是同一个权利人。

This adjustment is merely the rights holder re-arranging how its own house numbers are hung, to keep its own products from fighting each other — so the two sides’ cars can be recognized at the hood. The brand has not split; what split is the product line. The goodwill remains intact under Audi AG, built up by the two joint ventures on its behalf. As for whether this cut is commercially clean, and whether the wordmark can grow its own reputation roots, the gazette cannot govern that; it must be left to the market to test.

这次调整，不过是权利人为避免自己的产品互相打架，把自家门牌的挂法重新安排了一下——让两边的车在车头就能被认出来。品牌没有分家，分的是产品线；商誉依然完整地记在奥迪股份公司名下，由两家合资公司分别替它攒。至于这刀切下去商业上利不利索、字母标能不能自己长出名气的根，公告簿管不了，要交给市场检验。

The line between the four circles and the four letters is drawn on the product, not on the title deed.

四个圈与四个字母之间那道线，画在产品上，不画在产权证上。

Sources: Trademark Gazette of the China Trademark Office under the China National Intellectual Property Administration (trademark license recordal announcements, trademark registration and renewal announcements); related data are from public reports.

来源：国家知识产权局中国商标网商标公告（商标许可备案公告、商标注册公告及续展公告）；相关数据来自公开报道。