Trademark applications using martyr's patriotic phrase rejected
China Daily
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China's National Intellectual Property Administration on Monday rejected applications for trademark registration using a patriotic expression of a martyr in his diary, who died during a border dispute with Indian troops in June last year.

Since Feb 20, some businesses and individuals have applied to use "Crystal Clear Love" for the registration of trademark on 17 items, including food, drink and clothing, the administration said in a release on Monday.

The expression came from a sentence in the diary of one of the soldiers, Chen Xiangrong, who died during the border clash. His remarks in the diary - "My love is crystal clear, and it is only for China" - went viral among Chinese netizens after media reports last month.

Topics of the members of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force sparked a swarm of sentiment on Chinese social media platforms after the Chinese military published details of the conflict with India, including the number of casualties and their names in February.

The administration said in the statement, "It's the battle cry written by Chen, fully showing the martyr's love for the motherland and his noble sentiment of selfless dedication".

It condemned the trademark registration application, saying it was to seek improper interests.

"It desecrated the spirit of heroes and deviated from the core values of socialism, which would make it easy to have a bad social impact," the administration said.

The decision to reject these applications was made in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law, which says trademarks should not be "harmful to socialist morals and customs", according to the statement.