Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

China nappy business tries to trademark Bush
A Beijing businessman has applied to use the Chinese name of US President George Bush to market his nappies.
"Back in my hometown in Henan Province, the pronunciation of 'Bushi' sounds exactly like 'not wet'," said the man, surnamed Guo, according to local media.

But his application is likely to be rejected, authorities said.

"It may bring about bad social impact if a leader's name is registered as a trademark," said an official surnamed Liu at the State Trademark Bureau.


George Bush is not the only high-profile American who has appealed to Chinese businesses.

Mr Liu said the bureau had just turned down an application by a costume company to use the Chinese translation of "Lewinsky" as a fashion brand.

China's state Xinhua news agency said there was increasing interest in the use of a well-known person's name as a trademark.

It cited a pharmaceutical factory in south China's Guizhou Province which in 2001 succeeded in using Xie Tingfeng, the Mandarin name of Hong Kong pop star Nicholas Tse, to sell its anti-diarrhoea drug.

It added that officials have yet to rule on a request from a Beijing company called Nan Bei Tong to use the name of Mu Zimei, a 25-year-old sex columnist, on its condoms.

"Merchants are mainly driven by business interests, hoping a popular trade name will lead to a best-selling product," the agency quoted officials as saying.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/...fic/3465069.stm

Published: 2004/02/06 10:36:18 GMT

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

Bu Shi

Last edited by Aydin on 02-06-2004 at 03:45 PM

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: is futile
Posts: 4985

The likeness between that pic and my avatar is striking.

The implications - hilarious.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Boston
Posts: 6569

I would say the Chinese are weird, but we did have that Yo/Yao ad over here.

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