TRAB Affirms Refusal to Register “初心”: Ill Effects
Shanghai Chumeng Education Technology Co., Ltd. (Applicant) sought to register “初心” No. 44867663 for use on services in class 45 and the China Trademark Office (CTMO) refused the application on the grounds of likelihood of confusion and ill effects. The Applicant appealed and submitted letter of consent by the registrants of the cited marks. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) recognized the letter of consent as a justification for the co-existence of the applied-for mark and the cited marks, while affirmed the refusal on the grounds of ill effects.
“初心” means “original intention” or “original aspiration” and was a phrase that first appeared in a work of Bai Juyi, a renowned poet of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The original meaning of this phrase was neutral, and I do not see any reason that it should be deemed to have ill effects. However, this phrase has been frequently quoted by President Xi as of October 31, 2017, when he delivered a speech after a visit at Nanhu Lake Revolution Museum in Jiaxing, east China’s Zhejiang Province. After that, “stay[ing] true to our original aspiration and founding mission” has been quoted in several other speeches of Xi and become a very well-known phrase in the political context. …
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