Donald Trump’s name is the crapper in China
THE founder of a Chinese brand of high-tech toilets called Trump said he had no intention of soiling the name of America’s next president.
Zhong Jiye, the founder, said he had not heard of Donald Trump when he registered the English name of his company, Shenzhen Trump Industrial Co Ltd, as a trademark in 2002. In Chinese, the company name means “innovate universally”, he said, highlighting how the toilet seats warm and wash the user’s backside. That Chinese name, he explained, also sounds a little like “trump”. “We really didn’t know of this person called Trump,” Zhong said. “It was entirely a coincidence.”
In the US, Trump’s name has adorned ties, steaks, water and other products. In China, it is found on computers, cosmetics, even leather goods.
The difference: Many such Chinese products don’t have the president-elect’s permission.
Of the 46 registered trademarks under the Trump name in China, 29 appear to be owned by Trump. At least 14 companies not associated with Trump applied for theTrump trademark in 2015 and 2016 alone, according to Itaotm, a Chinese commercial trademark website.
The situation highlights the difficulties that big brands and celebrities face as they navigate the country’s relatively new trademark laws.
In China, trademarks are generally awarded to those who are first to file with the government. That has given rise to a crush of people registering the names of well-known brands, in a prac- tice known as “trademark squatting”.
ManyWestern companies like Apple and Starbucks have been caught up in long legal battles to win the right to use their names in China.
In May, a Chinese company won the right to sell its leather goods under the iPhone trademark after years of legal wrangling with Apple. Michael Jordan lost the rights to the name he is known by in China.
“It’s very difficult to prove bad faith,” said Matthew Dresden, a lawyer with Harris Moure in Seattle who specialises in Chinese intellectual property law. “It’s very hard to prove that your name is well known at the time that the application is filed.”
Trump has fought to get his name back. In 2015, he lost a legal battle against a businessman in the northern province of Liaoning, to prevent him from using the Trump name for a construction company. Then the decision was reversed. A notice issued Sunday on China’s trademark office website said that Trump’s trademark had been granted preliminary approval for use in construction services.
Trump isn’t the first world leader wrapped up in a name dispute in China.
In 2004, the country’s government officials were not favourably inclined when a Chinese businessman tried to register the Chinese name of former president George W Bush for a brand of disposable diapers. The officials said the application was likely to be rejected “because it may bring about bad social impact if a leader’s name is registered as a trademark,” according to state media.