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16 February 2017Trademarks

Donald Trump wins TM rights for his name in China

US President Donald Trump secured trademark rights to his name in China this week.

Trump obtained the rights for construction services on Tuesday, February 14, according to newspapers  The Independent and The Washington Post.

The Washington Post added that Trump had been fighting to trademark his name in the country for the past decade.

Trump reportedly has 49 pending trademark applications in the country, all of which were made during his presidential campaign.

He reportedly has 77 Chinese trademarks currently registered in his name, and these will be due for renewal during his term, said The Washington Post.

But the development has sparked criticism in some quarters.

Trump’s foreign trademarks, according to ethics lawyers who spoke to The Washington Post, could cause conflicts of interest and violate the emoluments clause of the US constitution, which bars civil servants from accepting anything of value from foreign countries without the consent of Congress.

Norman Eisen, former chief White House ethics lawyer for previous president Barack Obama, told The Washington Post: “There can be no question that it is a terrible idea for Donald Trump to be accepting the registration of these valuable property rights from China while he’s a sitting president of the United States.

“It’s fair to conclude that this is an effort to influence Mr Trump that is relatively inexpensive for the Chinese, potentially very valuable to him, but it could be very costly for the United States.”

Also quoted was Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W Bush. He called the situation “highly improper”, saying that since foreign governments know Trump cares deeply about his family’s business, “they will give him what he wants and they will expect stuff in return”.

In the US, Trump has a number of trademarks already registered under his name, including ‘DJT’, ‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Donald J Trump Signature Collection’.

Catherine Wolfe, partner at law firm Boult Wade Tennant, said: “There is no reason to connect Trump’s recent political success with his recent Chinese trademark success—I think we should surmise only that they have simply happened at the same time."

She added: "But what this story illustrates, as the recent Michael Jordan case also does, is that persistence can be rewarded, and that Chinese trademark decisions seem increasingly to be aligning with the global pattern."

Lee Eulgen, partner at law firm Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, said: "Foreign trademark applicants often have issues with obtaining registration in China. While Trump’s win is noteworthy because of his involvement, I don’t find it to be particularly significant from a precedential perspective.

"Trump is a prolific trademark filer. I suspect that this will not be the last time that his trademark endeavours will make news during his presidency. It will be interesting to observe where his legal team draws the lines between third-party uses of his name that are commercial in nature (and therefore potentially constitute infringements) and third-party uses that refer to his presidency."

He continued: "In addition, one interesting aspect of Trump’s trademark filings is that, in some cases, the filings have been made in his individual name—as opposed to being made in the name of a corporate entity created for the purpose of holding the trademarks. In my experience working with celebrities and business luminaries, that is unusual."

Catherine Wolfe is a WIPR Leader for 2016. Her profile is available  here.

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