The family business · First term · № 20
China registered the Trump construction-services trademark after a ten-year fight, weeks into his presidency
- Date
- , China Trademark Office registration, reported by AP and CNN
- Subject
- China
- Benefit
- Gifts and payments
- Government
- China
- Beneficiary
- Donald Trump (Trump Organization)
- Topic
- Ethics & conflicts
- Era
- First term
What happened
On February 14, 2017, China's Trademark Office formally registered a trademark for Trump-branded construction services, ending a legal fight that Trump had begun in 2006 and repeatedly lost in Chinese courts. China's trademark review board invalidated a rival claim in September 2016, during the campaign, awarded the mark to the Trump Organization in November 2016 after the election, and registered it after the three-month objection period ran out. The Chinese Embassy in Washington told CNN the case was handled in compliance with China's trademark law. Trump Organization chief legal officer Alan Garten said the registration was "a natural result" of more than a decade of enforcement efforts that took place years before Trump announced his candidacy. Ethics lawyers including Norman Eisen and Richard Painter argued that a trademark granted by a foreign government without congressional consent could violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause; Democratic senators protested and questioned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about possible political influence. Trump had pledged in January 2017 to make no new foreign deals while in office. Freedom House rated China Not Free in its 2017 report.