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Zhongnanhai Cigarettes? White House Cigars? Kremlin Wodka?

Xin Dingding and Wang Huazhong report on an anti-tobacco non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, that submitted a petition on April 14, 2009 to the Beijing Trademark Office to stop the use of Zhongnanhai, the complex of buildings in Beijing which serves as the central headquarters of the Communist Party of China, as a trademark for ... cigarettes, because it would mislead consumers.

Zhongnanhai cigarettes have a rich history, because they used to be specially made for Chairman Mao in the Sixties, read here. The question is do they have a rich future?

Article 10 (1) Trademark Law: Those identical with or similar to the State name, national flag, national emblem, military flag, or decorations, of the People's Republic of China, with names of the places where the Central and State organs are located, or with the names and designs of landmark buildings." The NGO has definitively a point.

Read Xin and Wang's article for China Daily here.

Hat tip to Miko?aj Rogowski, a law student of Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, who pointed me to this article. Miko?aj is going to write a guest article on IP Dragon in the near future.

Full post as published by IP Dragon on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).