A book company applies for civet cat trademark
( 2004-01-15 16:05) (Xinhua)
A Chinese book company has
applied to the Chinese Trademark Bureau for registering "civet cat" as its
trademark, saying it hopes to sell its products as quick as the spread of SARS
virus which is thought to have jumped from the mammal to humans.
Beijing Benben Book Ltd., a sub-company of the Marketing and Management
magazine filed the application days after the official order to kill civet cats
on the grounds that they carry the SARS virus, Wednesday's Beijing News
reported.
Zhang Yongbing, director of the company, said that it had applied to have the
three Chinese characters for "civet cat" -- "guo zi li" -- as a trademark in 16
major categories, mainly covering books, comics, printed publications and
posters.
"Our clients will pass on the names of our products to potential buyers like
a fast spreading virus and the number of ' infected' buyers will multiply at
lightning speed," Zhang said.
However, some people opposed Zhang's idea, claiming it was unwise to
trademark 'civet cat', as SARS remained a worrisome issue, and the fate of the
civet cats was uncertain.
A trademarks expert said the approval procedure could take 15 to 18 months.
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