Moutai's trademark application rejected

China's alcohol brand Kweichow Moutai's trademark application for "national banquet" was rejected by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, Sina Finance reported on Tuesday.

The trademark for "Moutai Guoyan" or "Moutai for national banquet" applied to liquor products may lead mis-recognition of the quality and ranking of Moutai, the court said.

Meanwhile, if "Moutai Guoyan" became a registered trademark for alcohol and enjoyed exclusive usage rights, it would be unfair to other industrial players and have certain negative impacts on public interests, according to the court.

As far back as September 2001, Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd applied to register "Guojiu Moutai", or "Moutai the national alcohol", as a trademark, but was initially rejected in August 2002. The company tried a further nine times to register the trademark in 2006 and 2010, but these attempts were also unsuccessful.

Kweichow Moutai's efforts in trademark application reflects Chinese company's awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights, the comprehensive strength of which has been steadily improved, according to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

In the first half of this year, China's number of trademark registrations reached 3.52 million, up 67.8 percent year-on-year, and the number of granted invention patents' saw a 9.9 percent year-on-year growth to a total of 238,000, SIPO said.