With Donald Trump being elected as the next U.S. president, not only did he secure his ticket to the White House, but it also coincided with him being awarded the right to use TRUMP as his trademark for businesses in China – after a fight that lasted for about a decade.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Trump applied in 2006 to register his Trump trademark in China to provide services in commercial and residential properties. His application was rejected by China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), because two weeks prior to his application, someone named Dong Wei had already applied to use that name for his business, which offers similar services.
Donald Trump launched an appeal to the SAIC, but lost the lawsuit.
Trump’s lawyers filed another lawsuit at the Beijing People’s High Court, which dismissed his appeal in May of 2015.
Right after Trump winning the election, his new application – part of a parallel strategy of invalidating Dong Wei’s trademark – was approved on Sunday, on the premise that no objections were raised in the following 90 day period of public notice.
Chinese netizens responded to the news with heated discussion: Netizen AM–DBS joked, “No wonder Trump decided to run for President, it turns out that he wants to win a lawsuit in China!”
The most ridiculous rumor surrounding Trump on the internet is that he was born in Sichuan province in West China. This is based on his Chinese name, “Chuan Pu” which literally translates as “Sichuan Dialogue”.
A post was widely circulating on Chinese social media saying that Donald Trump was born in Zigong, a town in Sichuan famous for salt mining, while his Father, Fred Trump, made a fortune trading in salt.
Alas, we wish that Trump won’t take the Chinese rumor as an insult and move to block trade with China.