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- Chinese Court Bans Trademark Related to Kim Hee-seon
- [2004-12-29]
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The Chinese court has ruled recently that registering a trademark featuring the
name of Korean actress Kim Hee-seon, who is riding high on her popularity in
China, is against the law. The 1st Beijing (????) District Court dismissed the
petition filed by Jinkungwei (???????), a Chengdu (???), Sichuan (????)-based company,
to permit the registration of its shoe trademark `Jin Si Shen` (??????), wrote
Beijing newspaper Shin Kyeong Bo (??????).
In its ruling, the court said
that as `Jin Si Shen` is pronounced and written in Chinese exactly as `Kim
Hee-seon,` this trademark may mislead consumers into believing that this brand
has something to do with Kim Hee-seon.
Although Jinkungwei applied for
the registration of this trademark back in October 2001 in Chengdu, the
trademark evaluation committee turned down the application for the same reason
as the Beijing District Court did.
Kim Hee-seon, who is well-known to
the Chinese public and who appears often in TV commercials of Chinese mobile
phones, has earned the title of `the most beautiful Korean woman` in China.
