Tokyo Olympics: Chinese businesses illegally using names of winners Yang Qian, Chen Meng, Quan Hongchan
- Dozens of athletes’ names have been registered as trademarks in China without authorisation, according to the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC)
- On Thursday night, China’s trademark office invalidated 109 applications that tried to use the names of Olympians
In the aftermath of an Olympics game that generated big-time domestic stars, some companies started using their names to sell everything from office supplies to beer.
But, in many cases, the athletes had not approved, or may not have been aware, that their likeness was being used for advertising.
“Such acts wrongfully used other people’s reputation, invaded their legal rights and created a negative social impact,” the Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration said in an official statement on Thursday night.
Previously, the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) had demanded businesses to stop illegally using the names of Olympians on their products.
“Business activities need to remain rational and respect the athletes’ legal rights, in accordance with relevant laws,” the COC said in a statement on its official website on Wednesday.
“There should not be registration of trademarks with the Olympians’ names without authorisation from the athletes or their guardians. Offenders should stop their actions or retract,” it added.
Almost immediately, businesses started registering trademarks with her name in areas including office supplies, clothing, food and beer and other beverages. Just one company in Shenzhen alone had registered 10 different “Quan Hongchan” trademarks.
More than 70 trademarks related to her name were also being applied for, the Beijing Youth Daily reported, including “Hongchan”, “Sister Hongchan” and “Hongchan Queen”.
According to Qichacha, a website that compiles corporate registration information, the name “Yang Qian” has been registered by a number of companies in alcohol, clothing and exercise equipment.
According to China’s trademark laws, names that are registered as trademarks belonging to a public figure need to have that person’s authorisation.
“If public figures’ names can be randomly registered into trademarks, it will disturb the normal market order,” Xu Chuanhan, a Chaoyang district court assistant told the Legal Daily.
He said if the public figures found that their names had been registered by others, they could argue against it and the registration could be deemed invalid.
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In 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration retracted 37 trademark registrations related to Li Wenliang, China’s whistle-blowing doctor during the Covid-19 outbreak, who later died of the disease.
This came only a few days after it retracted 63 trademarks called “Huoshenshan” and “Leishenshan” – two emergency makeshift hospitals China built in response to the epidemic, and “Zhong Nanshan”, the Chinese pulmonologist regarded by the public as “China’s Dr. Fauci”.