The LEHMAN, Lee & Xu China Trademarks Newsletter keeps you up to date on recent developments in
China Trademark law and practice
China Trademarks Trumped
We’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times. Register your trademark in China, and register early. The rules don’t change if you’re a small company, an international property management company, or say, the newly elected President of the USA.
Donald Trump may be surprised to learn that a brand of high-tech toilets bears his name in China. The toilets come with heating, and are equipped to wash up for the user. The name in Chinese means “innovate universally” the name in English is “Trump.”
The founder of the company claims that Donald J. Trump was unknown to him upon registering the trademark way back in 2002. Its possible. There are 46 registered trademarks in China bearing the “Trump” name. 29 of these seem to be owned by Mr. Trump or this Trump group of companies. The majority of the rest seem to have been registered only in 2015 and 2016, right about the time Trump’s name increased in global recognition in connection with his run for the Presidency.
The situation is all too familiar. You may recall that Michael Jordan does not own his own name in China as it was registered as a trademark by someone else. “Bad faith” trademark registration is against the law, but it is very difficult to prove “bad faith” as courts can’t look into a trademark owner’s mind to see their intention.
Still not all is bad news for Mr. Trump. A recent court decision, issued after Mr. Trump’s surprise victory in the election, granted Mr. Trump rights to the Trump name in China in connection with construction. Everybody likes a winner.
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