China grants preliminary approval to 38 new Trump trademarks

[Truth_hurts]

SHANGHAI (AP) — China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, a move that offers a potential business foothold for President Donald Trump's family company and protects his name in a country notorious for counterfeiters.

 

The trademarks cover everything from hotels and golf clubs to bodyguard and concierge services, public documents show.

 

Trump's lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against China at campaign rallies, accusing it of currency manipulation and stealing U.S. jobs. Critics maintain that Trump's swelling portfolio of China trademarks raises the possibility of conflicts of interest.

 

China's Trademark Office published the provisional approvals on Feb. 27 and Monday.

 

If no one objects, they will be formally registered after 90 days. All but three are in the president's own name. China already registered one trademark to the president, for Trump-branded construction services on Feb. 14, the result of a 10-year legal battle that turned in Trump's favor after he declared his candidacy.

 

Ethics lawyers across the political spectrum say that if Trump receives any special treatment in securing trademark rights, it would violate the U.S. Constitution, which bans public servants from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless approved by Congress. Concerns about potential conflicts of interest are particularly sharp in China, where the courts and bureaucracy are designed to reflect the will of the ruling Communist Party.

 

Trump Organization chief legal officer Alan Garten said the company has been enforcing its intellectual property rights for more than a decade in China and began registering trademarks relating to its core real estate brand years before Trump announced his presidential run.

 

"The latest registrations are a natural result of those longstanding, diligent efforts and any suggestion to the contrary demonstrates a complete disregard of the facts as well as a lack of understanding of international trademark law," he said in an email.

 

China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which oversees the Trademark Office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

 

Dan Plane, a director at Simone IP Services, a Hong Kong intellectual property consultancy, said he had never seen so many applications approved so expeditiously.

 

Plane said he would be "very, very surprised" if officials from the ruling Communist Party were not monitoring Trump's intellectual property interests. "This is just way over your average trademark examiner's pay grade," he said.

 

The marks include branded spa and massage services, golf clubs, hotels, insurance, finance and real estate companies, restaurants, bars, and a trademark class that covers bodyguards, social escorts, and concierge services.

 

It's not clear whether any Trump-branded businesses will materialize in China. Garten did not elaborate on how the trademarks would be used, but said the company did not apply for a trademark for social escort services.

 

Garten said in an email to the AP that part of the application included concierge and security related services associated with the operation of a hotel or restaurant, but not "escort services," a legal trademark classification.

 

Those hotel-related services fall into the same trademark class as escort services, which were included in the Chinese government's preliminary approval of the mark. The filing lists "escort service," ''body guard," and "social escort," among others.

 

Many companies register trademarks in China only to prevent others from using their name inappropriately.

 

Janet Satterthwaite, a global trademark attorney and partner at Potomac Law Group in Washington, says nothing about Trump seeking and receiving trademarks in China raises any immediate red flags.

 

"Especially in China, you absolutely need to register defensively so that people do not exploit your name for commercial gain," she said. She that that while the marks are moving faster than in her own experience, "it does not look like China did anything extraordinary here."

 

Spring Chang, a founding partner at Chang Tsi & Partners, a Beijing law firm that has represented the Trump Organization, declined to comment specifically on Trump's trademarks. But she said she advises clients to take out marks defensively, even in categories or subcategories of goods and services they may not aim to develop.

 

"I don't see any special treatment to the cases of my clients so far," she added. "I think they're very fair and the examination standard is very equal for every applicant."

 

But ethics experts — and Democrats — say a government's discretion to approve trademarks could turn into an opportunity to exercise leverage over the U.S. president.

 

Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, said the volume of new approvals raised red flags.

 

"A routine trademark, patent or copyright from a foreign government is likely not an unconstitutional emolument, but with so many trademarks being granted over such a short time period, the question arises as to whether there is an accommodation in at least some of them," he said.

 

Painter and Norman Eisen, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer for President Barack Obama, are involved in a lawsuit alleging that Trump's foreign business ties violate the U.S. Constitution. Trump has dismissed the lawsuit as "totally without merit."

 

Three of the new China trademarks are for Scion, a hotel brand Trump's sons are looking to expand in the U.S. Unlike almost all of Trump's China trademarks, they are registered in the name of a Delaware company called DTTM Operations LLC, rather than Donald J. Trump himself. The Trump Organization has transferred ownership of dozens of trademarks from the president to DTTM Operations LLC since its incorporation in January 2016.

 

Read more here:

https://apnews.com/8f54b14808a2459f9efcb0089f41f056/China-grants-preliminary-approval-to-38-new-Trump-trademarks

[waycrispy1]

And people were saying it was unethical for his children to still run his businesses, how come he gets to get to away with everything?

[♥SNS-Shinomiya♥]

Well lets see how this goes

[Siobhan Halo]

"social escorts", corporate speak for prostitutes, yes?

[Truth_hurts]

This was posted on Feb. 14

 

Apparently there's a Trump toilet, a Trump condom, a Trump pacemaker and even a Trump International Hotel among hundreds of trademarks in China that don't belong to Donald Trump. But after a decade of grinding battle in China's courts, the president was expected to get an unlikely win this week: the rights to his own name.

 

Meanwhile, the makers of Trump-branded luxury toilets at Shenzhen Trump Industrial Co. face a potent new potential adversary. They say they will defend their brand, even if it means taking on the U.S. president.

 

Co-founder Zhong Jiye said his Trump toilet, which dates to 2002, has nothing to do with President Trump. The Chinese name brings together ideas of innovation and popularity, he explained. And in English, the "U'' makes a nice toilet-seat shape logo.

 

Trump toilets for the home can do pregnancy tests, while models for public use have disposable seat covers for improved hygiene. The company says sales were up more than 50 percent last year and an international expansion is in the works — perhaps under a different brand now that Trump is president.

 

People use Trump toilets some 100 million times a year, Zhong said.

 

Among them, he added, are customers at Zhongnanhai, the official residence of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

 

https://apnews.com/c113029cef374b29b22e0d836f41a1ef

 

 

That’s the factor at play with the Chinese trademark for Trump Escorts. As The Washington Post’s China bureau chief, Simon Denyer, noted in his analysis of the trademark applications, “Chinese trademark law grants priority to whoever files an application first, so lawyers often advise clients with wide-ranging business interests to file broad, defensive trademark applications against a range of products to prevent other people jumping in — a practice known as ‘trademark squatting,’ common in China.â€

 

Here is such an advisory from the law firm of White and Williams:

 

In order for a foreign business to assert trademark rights in China, the first and most important step to take is to register the specific trademark. China recognizes a “first to file†system, which generally means that the trademark right belongs to the first person who properly registers the mark in China. Unlike the United States, in China there is no prior-use or intent-to-use requirement needed before registering a trademark nor are common law rights recognized. In other words, any party, whether or not it intends to use the mark in the stream of commerce, may register a trademark in China.

 

So someone could have stepped up and trademarked Trump Escorts in China if Trump’s organization had not done so first. Denyer noted that others have set up protective trademarks in China using the Trump name “for products such as condoms, toilets, pesticide and paint, none of which have any business relation to the U.S. president.â€

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/08/the-trump-organizations-trademark-for-escort-services-in-china-isnt-what-you-might-think/?utm_term=.1223b75b3994

 

 

Foreign Trademarks in China: Why Registering for One is Necessary

http://www.whiteandwilliams.com/resources-alerts-Foreign-Trademarks-In-China-Why-Registering-One-Is-Necessary.html

[Truth_hurts]

The Trump escort services reminds me of this

 

Trump International Escorts which has no affiliation with the Trump Organization

 

Last year, we explored a surprising international business effort called “Trump Escorts.†Based at trumpescorts.com but offering services in a number of countries, Trump Escorts used the Trump lettermark for its logo and listed its address as 180 Riverside in New York City, the location of a building called Trump Place. On the day after Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency, Trump Escorts sent out a news release promoting its revamped website.

 

That conveniently timed news release was actually a pretty good indicator that the company was simply trying to capitalize on the Trump name and not actually affiliated with the businessman. A little digging revealed that the company was using the Trump name to brand its escort services without the consent of the Trump Organization. That 180 Riverside address, for example, got the address of Trump Place wrong — and Trump Place is an apartment building. The Trump Organization is located in Trump Tower.

 

Alan Garten, chief legal officer for the Trump Organization, told The Washington Post in a statement at the time that the Trump Organization had sent a cease-and-desist to Trump Escorts, forcing the company to change its name to “Mystique Companions.â€

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/08/the-trump-organizations-trademark-for-escort-services-in-china-isnt-what-you-might-think/?utm_term=.cf181d59dabf

 

 

Solving the mystery of ‘Trump Escorts'

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/27/solving-the-mystery-of-trump-escorts/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.c3e5275f176f

[Frogurt]

MADE IN AMERICA CHINA

 

I'm sure Rust Belt Trump voters will be happy with this news.

[Frogurt]

From the Trump dossier:

 

"Commenting on the negative media publicity surrounding alleged Russian interference in the US election campaign in support of TRUMP, Source E said he understood that the Republican candidate and his team were relatively relaxed about this because it deflected media and the Democrats’ attention away from TRUMP’s business dealings in China and other emerging markets. Unlike in Russia, these were substantial and involved the payment of large bribes and kickbacks which, were they to become public, would be potentially very damaging to their campaign. The dossier claims Trump has had even more compromising ties (including bribes and kickbacks) to other countries, especially China."

[Truth_hurts]

 

China says it followed law in approving 38 Trump trademarks

 

Today

 

SHANGHAI (AP) — China on Thursday defended its handling of 38 trademarks it recently approved provisionally for President Donald Trump, saying it followed the law in processing the applications at a pace that some experts view as unusually quick.

 

Democrats in Congress were critical of Trump after The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the potentially valuable trademarks had been granted, raising questions of conflict of interest and political favoritism. One senator said the issue "merits investigation."

 

Trump has sometimes struggled to win trademarks from China; he secured one recently after a 10-year fight that turned his way only after he declared his candidacy for the presidency.

 

China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a regular briefing with reporters that Chinese authorities handle all trademark applications "in accordance with the law and regulation." He declined to comment on speculation about political influence on Trump's trademark approvals.

 

Critics fear foreign governments might gain leverage from Trump's global portfolio of brands.

 

Democrats in Congress have been pushing Trump to sever financial ties with his global businesses to avoid potential violations of the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars federal officials from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless approved by Congress.

 

The monopoly right to a successful brand in a market like China can be worth huge sums. Former top ethics lawyers from the administrations of Barack Obama and George W. Bush say any special treatment from Beijing in awarding Trump intellectual property protection would violate the Constitution.

 

Concerns about political influence are particularly sharp in China, where the courts and bureaucracy are designed to reflect the will of the ruling Communist Party, and foreign companies and the lawyers that work for them regularly ask embassy staff for help lobbying Chinese officials.

 

Spring Chang, a founding partner at Chang Tsi & Partners, a Beijing law firm that has represented the Trump Organization, declined to comment specifically on Trump's trademarks. But she did say government relations are an important part of trademark strategy in China. She said she has worked with officials from both the U.S. and Canadian embassies to help her clients. The key, she said, is "you should communicate closely with the government to push your case."

 

Drawing on public records from the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the AP compiled a detailed list of 49 trademarks Trump's lawyers applied for in 2016, even as he railed against China on the campaign trail. On Feb. 22, seven of those marks were rejected , though public records do not indicate why. China granted preliminary approval for 38 marks on Feb. 27 and Mar. 6. Four applications are pending.

 

Matthew Dresden, a China intellectual property attorney at Harris Bricken in Seattle, said the rejections suggested that the trademark office hadn't done Trump any special favors. "Some did not go through, that suggests it's just business as usual," he said.

 

Dan Plane, a director at Simone IP Services, a Hong Kong intellectual property consultancy, said it would be difficult to draw firm conclusions without in-depth research. However, he said the efficiency of China's trademark office in handling Trump's caseload suggested favor for a man whose decisions could have a powerful impact on China.

 

"For this many marks to all sail through to preliminary approval this quickly, with nary an issue in sight — that is unheard of to me, and I have been doing this for 16 years," he said. "I wish my clients' applications would be dealt with half as expeditiously and graciously."

 

If no one objects, the new marks will be officially registered after 90 days, bringing the number of Trump's trademarks in China to 115. Nearly all are in the president's own name; a few are registered to a Delaware company called DTTM Operations LLC.

 

The new marks could lay the groundwork for an expanded range of branded businesses, including financial, insurance and real estate services, golf clubs, educational institutions, restaurants and bars. A number of the trademarks granted, including those for "social escort" and "body guard" services, appeared to relate specifically to hotels. Other international hotel companies whose documents were reviewed by AP sought similar trademarks.

 

It's unclear whether any of these Trump-brand businesses will materialize in China. Many companies here register trademarks just to prevent others from using their name inappropriately. Trump has also said he will refrain from new foreign deals while in office.

 

Trump began to file trademark applications in China in late 2005, an effort that accelerated in 2008 as Trump's lawyers fought for control of Chinese variations of his name, public records show. Years of ambition in China, however, have yet to yield a single marquee development. And despite all the recent activity, Trump still doesn't have a firm hold on his brand in China. More than 225 Trump-related marks are held or sought by others in China, for an array of things including Trump toilets, condoms, pacemakers and even a "Trump International Hotel."

 

Trump Organization chief legal officer Alan Garten said the latest registrations were a continuation of efforts that long predate Trump's presidential run. "Any suggestion to the contrary demonstrates a complete disregard of the facts as well as a lack of understanding of international trademark law," he said in an email.

 

Read more here:

https://apnews.com/36ef23d60b4f4488871008a7e5b39a37/China-says-it-followed-law-in-approving-38-Trump-trademarks