Mr. Li Tools Brand and Trademark Explained

Mr. Li on China Locksmith Exhibition

These days I came across some historical photos of Mr. Li on China domestic locksmith exhibitions in 2016, did you ever notice from the above photo on Mr. Li’s shirt it says “Mr. Li Tools”? I finally know how Mr. Li and his company name his original tools in English, when he dropped the former Lishi trademark.

As I said in my previous post, Lishi Tools was the legacy brand name of Mr. Li’s original tools, which had been renamed to “Lizhiqin Tools” in 2014. But, it seems the name “Lizhiqin” is only known to Chinese locksmiths, as Mr. Li and his company officially call their automotive tools “Mr. Li Tools” towards the English-speaking world.

Mr. Li’s Logo & Trademarks

Legacy Lishi Logo

Former Trademark

When oriented in early 2000s, Mr. Li named his tools “Lishi”, and the oval Lishi trademark was used since 2002 until 2014.

Classic Lishi Tools

Present Trademark

Mr. Li renamed his brand name to “Lizhiqin Tools” in 2014, his face and name are registered as the trademark, and are being used.

For more detailed explanation, “Lizhiqin” is Mr. Li’s name written in Chinese pinyin, it’s also the name of Mr. Li’s company. His name, the 3 Chinese characters below his face logo, is used on each tool as the current trademark. But as I said above, Mr. Li officially doesn’t call his tools “Lizhiqin Tools”, instead he advertises his tools with the name “Mr. Li Tools”.

Genuine Lishi Vs. Original Lishi

Whenever I talk about Lishi tools, or Mr. Li tools, I must mention both Genuine Lishi and Original Lishi, one is Mr. Li’s ex-business partner, another is Mr. Li’s current partner. Both are still using Mr. Li’s former brand name.

Genuine Lishi

Genuine Lishi

Genuine Lishi is the registered trademark of UAP Limited, Mr. Li’s business partner in 2009-2012. At that time, UAP Limited was helping Mr. Li promoting his tools under the name “Genuine Lishi”. While Mr. Li’s own supply line uses the oval Lishi logo.

Original Lishi

Original Lishi

Original Lishi is Mr. Li’s current business partner since 2015, of when Mr. Li already waived the former Lishi trademark. Original Lishi still uses Mr. Li’s former logo on the website, but the logo as well as the brand name are no longer used.

Genuine Lishi was Mr. Li’s business partner, and it has no relationship with Mr. Li today. Genuine Lishi is still manufacturing and selling their own line of Lishi tools, made by a factory in Shenzhen.

Original Lishi is Mr. Li’s current business partner, who is helping Mr. Li promoting his tools outside of China, each tool supplied by them comes with Mr. Li face logo, and a red verification label.

What are Mr. Li Tools?

Mr. Li Tools are a range of automotive opening tools invented, designed, and made by Mr. Li, a master locksmith living in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province of China. Mr. Li Tools have Mr. Li face logo on front of each tool, and a green verification label on back.

How to Describe Mr. Li’s Original Tools Correctly

In this post, you’ve learned the former brand name and trademark of Mr. Li’s original tools, and the name Mr. Li used after he dropped the former brand. So if you sell his original tools, how to write a correct description? Here’s a list of references, according to my understandings.

  • Lishi (former registered trademark)
  • Lishi Tools
  • Lishi 2-in-1
  • Lishi Lock Pick
  • Lishi Automotive Tools
  • Mr. Li Tools (official)
  • Mister Li Tools (variant)
  • Mr. Li Picks
  • Original Mr. Li
  • Mr. Li 2-in-1 Decoder & Pick

Lishi is the registered trademark of Mr. Li, but it’s no longer used when new trademark was registered. After 2014, Mr. Li and his company officially advertises and promotes with the name “Mr. Li Tools” or “Mr. Li Automotive Tools”.

Since the Lishi brand name had been used for over a decade, and accepted by people from all over the world, the legacy name can still be used, even though there’s no Lishi logo. If you’re a distributor of Mr. Li, you can consider these names.

But please avoid using these names:

  • Genuine Lishi
  • Original Lishi

Genuine Lishi is the registered trademark of UAP Limited. Original Lishi is the registered trademark of someone from Australia. Advertising Mr. Li’s original tools with these 2 brand names is at your own risk. Especially don’t use the Original Lishi brand name when you’re selling the green label tools, although the factory also makes the red label tools.

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