China gave preliminary approval to 38 Trump trademarks as the president and his family try to launch branded businesses in the country, including hotel chains, security services and golf clubs, according to a report on Wednesday.
Lawyers for Donald Trump applied for the trademarks in April 2016 even as the then-presidential candidate called out China for currency manipulation and unfair trading practices.
China’s Trademark Office signed off on the preliminary approvals on Feb. 27 and on Monday.
They will be formally registered in 90 days if no objections are raised.
Dan Plane, a director at Simone IP Services, a Hong Kong intellectual property consultancy, said he had never seen so many applications approved so expeditiously.
“For all these marks to sail through so quickly and cleanly, with no similar marks, no identical marks, no issues with specifications — boy, it’s weird,” he said.
Given the impact Trump’s presidency could have on China, Plane said he would be “very, very surprised” if officials from the ruling Communist Party were not monitoring Trump’s intellectual property interests.
“This is just way over your average trademark examiner’s pay grade,” he said.
Ethics watchdogs in the US questioned the timing, saying if China gave Trump preferential treatment the president could be in violation of the Constitution, which bans public officials from accepting anything of value from foreign governments.
Trump has said he will turn over control of his businesses to his two adult sons and an employee of the Trump Organization.
With Associated Press