Companies in the US are grappling with how to handle Ivanka Trump\u2019s fashion brand, which has become heavily politicized and faces ongoing boycotts over t…<\/b>
Companies in the US are grappling with how to handle Ivanka Trump\u2019s fashion brand, which has become heavily politicized and faces ongoing boycotts over the policies of Trump\u2019s father, US president Donald Trump. But among Chinese firms, a race is on to cash in on the US first daughter\u2019s rising profile.
The South China Morning Post reports that dozens of companies have collectively submitted at least 65 applications to the country\u2019s trademark office to claim the \u201cIvanka\u201d trademark for products such as makeup, booze, wallpaper, nutritional supplements, and other items. A week after the US election, for instance, Fujian Yingjie Commodity Company filed \u201cto use Ivanka for its brand of sanitary napkins,\u201d it says.
Right now the \u201cIvanka\u201d name is an irresistible target for Chinese companies. Trump is, after all, a stylish figure on the global stage, and her popularity in China has only grown since the election. She and her daughter, Arabella, recently drew notice for their surprise visit to Beijing\u2019s embassy in Washington to celebrate China\u2019s lunar new year, and her video of Arabella singing in Mandarin and playing with a traditional Chinese puppet circulated widely on the internet in China. A previous video of Arabella reciting a Chinese poem in November had already been a hit.
Chinese law, meanwhile, offers enough leeway regarding use of foreign brands\u2019 and celebrities\u2019 names that companies routinely try to cash in\u2014whether those whose names are used like it or not.
For four years, US basketball legend Michael Jordan fought in Chinese court to stop Qiaodan Sports from using his name\u2014Qiaodan, pronounced \u201cchee-ow dahn,\u201d is the Chinese transliteration of Jordan\u2014and jersey number, 23, to sell clothes and shoes. Jordan finally won his case in December, annulling the company\u2019s trademark on the Chinese version of the name, \u4e54\u4e39, though the ruling allowed it to keep using the pinyin version, \u201cQiaodan.\u201d
Most of the applications to use Ivanka Trump\u2019s first name are still under review, according to the South China Morning Post, and its unclear whether they\u2019ll be granted. Trump might also fare better than her predecessors if she decides to challenge any of the trademarks.
Her father, for instance, recently found the Chinese courts suddenly more favorable to his appeals. For years he had fought unsuccessfully for the trademark on use of the Trump name in the construction industry, but as his political prospects grew, his luck changed. Shortly after he was elected US president in November, China\u2019s court awarded the Trump Organization the trademark.
This article originally appeared on Quartz .<\/p>\n