Biden is getting noticed…as trademark applications reflect!

by Summer Xia

We have already written few times on these pages that certain facts happening far away from China might have a clear and quick impact in terms of new trademark filings at CNIPA. This time, as was predictable, it is the turn of Mr. Biden, President Biden actually.

Far before Mr. Joe Biden became the president of America, his name in both English and Chinese was already registered at the CNIPA, but not by himself. The surname of Mr. Biden is translated in Chinese as 拜登 pronounced as “baideng” and it is a clear transliteration of the English sound.

The earliest Biden trademark for 拜登 “baideng” was filed on 1999-02-01 by Bayer Aktiengesellschaft in class 1 and 2. It seems plausible that Bayer might not have anticipated such election in 2020 and probably it is only a coincidence.

Nevertheless, based on a search done a few days ago, we have located a total of 106 trademarks identical to or including “拜登” appliedto the CNIPA.

Biden is less popular than “拜登”, however there are also several Biden trademarks in English applied at the CNIPA since 2015.

There is even one (“Trump-Biden” in Chinese) applied to the CNIPA, and is currently pending for review of refusal. Considering the situation, it is very likely to be rejected by the CNIPA.

Many “拜登” or “Biden” trademark applications were approved for registration, because back to the time of examination, Biden was not famous in China for the general public.

However, things are different now. It is safe to predict that after Biden’s inauguration, the CNIPA very likely will reject every trademark application identical or similar to “拜登” or “Biden”.

Taking Trump/特朗普as a reference, before he announced his candidacy for President of the United States in 2015, many trademarks similar or identical to Trump/特朗普 have been approved for registration. However, after the year 2015, trademarks similar or identical to Trump/特朗普 were all refused by the CNIPA.

Actually in 2020, even application for “特没谱” “TeMeiPu” (which means unreliable person), a common parody of Mr. Trump (“特朗普”) are almost all being rejected by the CNIPA.

From Trump’s example, we can see that before 2015, trademark applications similar or identical to Trump can be applied and registered by a third party. This is because before 2015, Trump was not popular in China, and general consumers were not familiar with him. However, after Trump’s announcement of his candidacy for president in 2015, his name “Trump” became every popular in China.

According to Article 32 of the trademark law, “No applicant for trademark application may infringe upon another person's existing prior rights, nor may he, by illegitimate means, rush to register a trademark that is already in use by another person and has certain influences”. 

Therefore, before Trump has “certain influence” in China, trademark applications with his name generally does not violate the Chinese trademark law. However, after 2015, Trump becomes known in China, and almost all Trump-related trademarks are rejected by the CNIPA.

It is safe to predict that similar situation will happen to “Biden” trademarks. Although there are “Biden” trademarks already registered in the CNIPA, after Biden’s inauguration, the CNIPA will actively refuse Biden related trademarks, and even parodies of Biden trademarks if any.