Donald Trump may have won the battle for the White House, but he has consistently lost the legal war over rights to use the trademark “Trump” in China. In December of 2006, Donald Trump filed a trademark application in China for the right to use the trademark “Trump” in connection with the decoration and repair of residential properties and hotels.  Trump’s Chinese application received the filing number 5771154 but was denied registration.  In denying the application, the Chinese trademark office cited another applicant’s previously-filed application for the mark “Trump” for use in connection with construction.  The previous applicant, Dong Wei, had filed for the trademark “Trump,” (no. 5743720), a mere two weeks before the hotel magnate and was awarded registration of the “Trump” trademark accordingly.

In 2009, finding that his application was denied and that the “Trump” trademark was registered by a third party, Trump brought a trademark suit in the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, asking the court to overturn the Chinese Trademark Office’s decision.  When the Intermediate Court ruled against him, Trump brought another trademark appeal to the Beijing’s Higher People’s Court.  Although the Higher People’s Court agreed to hear the case in 2015, they ultimately rejected Trump’s request and declined to overturn the Chinese Trademark Office’s ruling.

Trump’s difficulty in registering his famous surname is not uncommon.  Foreign companies have often faced similar difficulties when trying to register their well-known trademarks in China.  For example, internationally-famous brand owners such as Burberry, Michael Jordan, and New Balance have all lost similar cases for their trademarks, the most recent high-profile case being Apple’s loss over the right to use the “iPhone” trademark in China.  And although China has made considerable strides in protecting intellectual property in the last two decades, trademark squatting is still a notoriously successful venture with some third-party applicants having even gone as far as bringing successful cancelation proceedings against the bona fide brand owners.

Trump himself has encountered the problem several times in Asia.  Trademarks incorporating the president-elect’s surname are common in China.  A wide variety of Chinese companies have cashed in on the Trump name, including one Shenzhen-based company that sells “Trump Toilets,” using the surname as a means of marketing “high-end” toilets that automatically change seat protectors.  In 2011, Trump even went as far as to ask the Obama administration to assist him in his trademark lawsuit against Trump Companhia Limitada, a company in Macau that had registered the “Trump” trademark for use in connection with coffee shops and restaurants in Macau.  Although Trump had previously been granted use of the “Trump” trademark in connection with hotels in Macau, he had not received approval to use the “Trump” trademark in connection with restaurants.

Since Trump’s rise in American politics, however, the tides seem to be turning in his favor.

Last May he won the Macau lawsuit, and now, four days after winning the White House, Trump’s trademark applications in China were preliminarily approved, despite having been pending since March 20, 2014.

For more information on this topic, please visit our Trademark Protection service page, which is part of our Trademark Practice.

Klemchuk LLP is an Intellectual Property (IP), Technology, Internet, and Business law firm located in Dallas, TX.  The firm offers comprehensive legal services including litigation and enforcement of all forms of IP as well as registration and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights.  The firm also provides a wide range of technology, Internet, e-commerce, and business services including business planning, formation, and financing, mergers and acquisitions, business litigation, data privacy, and domain name dispute resolution.  Additional information about the trademark firm and its trademark attorneys may be found at www.klemchuk.com.

Klemchuk LLP hosts Culture Counts, a blog devoted to the discussion of law firm culture and corporate core values with frequent topics about positive work environment, conscious capitalism, entrepreneurial management, positive workplace culture, workplace productivity, and corporate core values.

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