Chinese businesses have beaten the Malaysians in trademarking the term ‘Musang King’, with nearly 200 companies using the name in their products. This was discovered after local Intellectual property service company Trademark2u’s application for a trademark in China was rejected by authorities there.
The company’s chief executive Lawrence Yip stated that there are 160 companies which have trademarks with the word “Mao Shan Wang” (Chinese for Musang King) and 20 others containing “Musang King”.
To protect Malaysian interests as the producer of the fruit, Yip urged the government to take legal action in Chinese courts to strike out the Musang King trademark. He said if the China Trade Mark Office and courts recognised Musang King as a popular durian variant produced exclusively in Malaysia, they could remove existing trademarks containing the name.
Source: thestar.com.my
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