Many Chinese people, especially women and youngsters, link the word Ruili with the renowned Chinese fashion magazine Rayli instead of the Chinese city with the same name. Now, the city government wants to change that.

Ruili is a Chinese trademark used by Rayli Group, who owns the Rayli-series of magazines including Rayli Fashion, Rayli Beauty and Rayli Luxury. Founded in 1995, the publishing house now has a large influence in fashion circles.

The government of Ruili in China's southwestern Yunnan province announced that it wants to try to compete with the magazine for the ownership of the trademark to help build a city brand image at a seminar about intellectual property protection and city brand value, China News Service reported.

The city government invited several law professors to discuss the issue at the seminar.

Ruili borders Myanmar to the northwest, southwest and southeast, and shares a nearly 170-km border with the foreign country.

The city was one of the first three national key pilot zones to test reform and opening-up policies, with two first-class national open ports, two national border economic cooperation zones and a free trade area.

With the development of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor and the ongoing implementation of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, Ruili's advantages in geographic location and policies became more obvious to the world and the region gained a stronger reputation.

The trademark issue, however, has a big negative impact on the further advertising and promotion of the city brand, local officials said.

The China Light Industry Press, parent of Rayli and owner of the trademark, told China Daily that they would not respond to the issue.

Ning Lizhi, dean of the intellectual property institute at Wuhan University, told China News Service that geographical names and trademark registration were complicated.

"They have a conflict in nature. Geographical names belong to public rights and the other is a private right. Also, whether geographical names can register as a trademark is not very clear in legislation, prohibition in principle, but not absolutely forbidden, which adds more complexity to the issue," Ning said.

According to the trademark law, the geographical names of the administrative divisions at or above the county level should not be used as trademarks, but those geographical names with other meanings or those that serve as a component of a collective mark or certification mark should be exclusive.

Whatever the end result, the city government's initiative may promote the tightening up of the trademark law in the future, he added.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/15/2015 page17)