律师：特朗普在华商标获批“正常”

Donald Trump has basketball star Michael Jordan to thank for securing trademarks in China, legal experts in the country said on Thursday, as they played down concerns that Beijing’s decision represented a special concession to the new US president.

中国法律专家周四表示，唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在中国申请商标注册获准，得感谢篮球明星迈克尔•乔丹(Michael Jordan)，他们淡化了有关北京方面的决定代表着向美国新总统作出特别让步的担忧。

Mr Trump now has the right to use his own name — and prevent others from using it — in categories ranging from beauty salons and spas to hotel services and restaurants. Intellectual property lawyers say both the approvals and the timing were the result of due process and reflect progress in closing a loophole that has allowed “trademark squatters” to exploit public figures’ names.

从美容院、水疗中心，到酒店服务和餐厅，特朗普现在有权使用自己的名字，并阻止别人使用它。知识产权律师们表示，批准本身及其时机都是正当程序的结果，反映了在打击让“商标抢注者”利用公众人物名字这个漏洞方面取得的进展。

“He was awarded the trademarks because he is already a well-known name, not because he is the US president,” said Liu Zhanlin of Yingke Law, one of China’s top IP specialists. “That’s the legacy of the Jordan case.”

“他获得商标，因为他已经是一个知名人物，而不是因为他是美国总统，”中国顶尖知识产权专家之一、盈科律师事务所(Yingke Law)的刘占林表示。“这是乔丹案的遗留影响。”

Mr Jordan spent years battling the Chinese sportswear brand “Qiaodan”, culminating in a ruling by China’s supreme court in January against “deceptive use” of public figures’ names. The Chinese system is based on a first-come, first-serve basis, creating a lucrative opportunity — until the Qiaodan ruling — for squatters to register famous international brands.

乔丹花了好几年时间与中国运动服装品牌“乔丹”进行斗争，最终导致中国最高法院在1月对“误导”使用公众人物名字的行为作出不利裁决。中国的制度基于先到先得的原则，在乔丹案裁决出炉之前，这为那些抢注驰名国际品牌的人创造了一个有利可图的机会。

Authorities have granted preliminary approval for Mr Trump’s trademark in a number of sectors. However, his applications for “unlimited” use of his name and for trademarks in sectors such as mining and advertising, where he does not have business interests, were rejected.

当局已初步批准特朗普在多个行业的商标申请。然而，他对“无限制”使用自己名字的申请，以及在他并无商业利益的采矿和广告等行业的商标申请，均被拒绝。

“If all of the applications had sailed through without problems, I would have said that it appeared that Trump was being given special treatment, but this just seems like business as usual to me,” said Matthew Dresden, an expert on Chinese IP at US law firm Harris Bricken.

“如果所有的申请都没有问题地获得通过，我会说，看上去特朗普正得到特殊待遇，但现在的结果在我看来是正常的，”美国律所哈里斯•布里肯(Harris Bricken)的中国知识产权专家马修•德累斯顿(Matthew Dresden)表示。

News of the decision on Wednesday drew rebukes from Democrats and ethics experts, who questioned whether Beijing was seeking to curry favour with the new US president. The Trump Organization retorted that it had defended the Trump trademark in China for several years, long before Mr Trump’s candidacy made him famous in the country.

中国方面在周三作出的上述决定，招致了民主党人士和道德专家的指责，他们质疑北京方面是否在寻求讨好美国新总统。特朗普集团(Trump Organisation)反驳称，它在中国捍卫特朗普的商标已有多年，远远早于特朗普的总统候选人资格使他在中国闻名。

The new regulations have resulted in victories for Château Lafite Rothschild, which is battling copycat wine bottlers, as well as for Mr Trump. But foreign companies remain frustrated by a dizzying array of potential translations into Chinese, as well as the need to defend across numerous categories.

除了让特朗普获胜外，新的法规也为罗斯柴尔德拉菲堡酒庄(Château Lafite Rothschild)带来了胜利，该酒庄正与模仿它的葡萄酒装瓶企业打官司。但外资企业仍然感到沮丧的是，他们得提防一系列令人眼花缭乱的潜在中文译名，还得进行跨品类的商标维权。

For instance, US television network HBO is suing a restaurant of the same name, while Dow Jones and Dow Chemical once fought over the right to the Chinese character “dao”.

例如，美国电视网HBO正在起诉一家同名的餐厅，而道琼斯(Dow Jones)和陶氏化学(Dow Chemical)曾为使用汉字“道”的权利产生纷争。

Intense Chinese public interest in the US presidential campaign spurred Chinese citizens to file dozens of trademark applications using variations of Mr Trump’s name over the past year. Hundreds were also filed for variations of Ivanka Trump, his daughter, “Trump’s children” and other related trademarks.

中国公众对美国总统竞选的强烈兴趣，在过去一年里促使一些中国人使用特朗普名字的各种变体提交了数十宗商标申请。还有数百宗申请想要注册他的女儿伊万卡•特朗普(Ivanka Trump)、“特朗普的孩子”和其他相关商标的各种变体。

The recent Trump victories are the result of 16 applications filed by the Trump Organization last April to prevent such squatting.

特朗普最近取得的胜利是特朗普集团去年4月提交的16宗申请的结果，这些申请的目的就是防范此类抢注行为。

The saga of Mr Trump’s claims provides a road map to his failed attempts to do business in a fast-growing but often very frustrating market.

特朗普在华注册商标的经历，为他在这个快速增长但常常令人沮丧的市场做生意的失败企图提供了一张路线图。

Among the latest batch of trademarks, which will be valid within 90 days if no one objects, was the trademark to “Scion”, the brand Mr Trump’s children are developing for future hotel ventures. There are currently no Trump-branded hotels or properties in China, although a group hotel executive said last autumn the company planned to develop “20 to 30 hotels” in the country.

最近这批商标(如果没有人提出异议的话，它们将在90天内生效)包括“Scion”这个商标，特朗普的孩子们正使用这个品牌开发未来酒店项目。中国目前没有特朗普品牌的酒店或房地产，尽管一名集团酒店高管去年秋天表示，该公司计划在中国开发“20至30家酒店”。

The application for Scion was filed in China in April 2016, although the Trumps only announced the rebranding in October.

Scion的申请于2016年4月在中国提交，尽管特朗普家族在10月才宣布更名。

Mr Trump has on several occasions over the past decade attempted to enter hotel or property deals. In 2010 he won the right to use the Trump name for golf clubs, buildings and malls, following a 2008 application that coincided with registering several shell companies in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen and an aborted deal with property developer Evergrande.

特朗普在过去10年里曾多次尝试达成酒店或房地产交易。2010年，他赢得了使用特朗普这个名字为高尔夫俱乐部、建筑物和商场冠名的权利。之前2008年的一宗申请适逢在繁荣的南方城市深圳注册几家壳公司，并试图与房地产开发商恒大地产(Evergrande)做成一笔交易(但最终告吹)。

Mr Trump’s longest, most bitter battle over his trademark was clinched last year. His name was not well-known in China in 2006 when a man named Dong Wei suddenly claimed “Trump” as a trademark in the construction industry, 10 days before the Trump Organization’s own attempt. Mr Trump sued the trademark authority and lost in court.

特朗普围绕他的商标的最漫长、最苦涩的战斗在去年终结。2006年他在中国并不出名时，一个名叫“董伟”的人突然申请注册了在建筑业使用的“特朗普”商标，比特朗普集团自己的申请抢先了10天。特朗普对国家工商行政管理总局商标评审委员会提起行政诉讼，但在法庭上败诉。

But 10 years later, shortly before he won the election, he reclaimed the trademark on a technicality — Mr Dong had not renewed it when it lapsed. His registered address, an apartment in the gritty industrial city of Shenyang, has been unoccupied for several years, according to a neighbour who said he believed Mr Dong had died about three years ago.

但在10年后，就在他当选之前不久，他以一个技术性的理由(董伟在商标失效之前没有延长)夺回这个商标。董伟的注册地址是工业城市沈阳的一套公寓，据一名邻居称，这套公寓已空置多年，此人相信董伟已在大约3年前去世。

Additional reporting by Archie Zhang

张祺(Archie Zhang)补充报道