On August 8th, 2011, Starbucks opened its first branch in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province. Hefei is the 3rd city Starbucks entered in the central part of China. However three days after the soft opening, the much welcomed Starbucks faced legal action. The issue surrounded its signature city mug. Hefei’s City Mug is nicknamed “Bao Gong Mug”. Bao Zheng, also known as Bao Gong, was a prestigious judge in the Song Dynasty (960-1127), who was from Hefei. Starbucks used his portrait as the main image on its city mugs and tumblers. Recently, Bao Xun’an, the 36th-generation descendent of the famous judge, accused Starbucks of violating intellectual property rights.

The battle over the Cabernet trademark has yet to be won as the State Administration for Industry and Commerce reconsidered its previous judgment made in June 2008 that the Cabernet trademark belonged to Yantai Chang Yu Group (SZSE: 000869).

You must have heard about the famous fashion brand Anna Sui, but do you know Sui by Anna Sui? Recently, when taking a walk around Jiu Guang and Parkson, popular department stores in Shanghai, you are going to find Sui by Anna Sui’s stores standing out in high-traffic locations areas. Does this mean Anna Sui has launched a sub-brand?

According to a plan recently released by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC), China is now striving to improve the quality of its trademark-related services to meet various demands. It is expected that the cycle of trademark examination will be reduced to less than 10 months in 2012. Meanwhile, the maximum cycle for receiving objections and approving accreditation will also be decreased to 20 months. These changes indicate that trademark applications will become more convenient, thereby encouraging companies to set up their brands in China.

Single character Chinese brand names are rare yet fascinating. This article aims to uncover whether they could be seen as a potential branding solution by examining the meaning of three names, “沃” (wò) , “蒲” (pú), and “雕” (diāo), and evaluating their effectiveness in appealing to their target markets. The benefits and risks of using a single character trademark as a brand name will also be discussed.

NineDeerKing, also known as Worthy, is a registered menswear brand based in Jiangsu Province. In November 2008, the Trademark Appeal Board (TAB) repealed the brand for brand plagiarism, citing its brand name and brand identity are too similar to King Deer (鹿王), an Inner-Mongolia-based apparel brand specialized in cashmere sweaters.