The grandson of Lu Xun, a great Chinese writer of the early 20th century, announced that the famous author's name could soon appear on commodities as a brand name.

He made the announcement at an intellectual property forum held in Shanghai.

¡¡¡¡Authorized by the deceased writer's son, a wine called Lu Xun was marketed in 2001 by a wine company in the writer's hometown of Shaoxing, in east China's Zhejiang province.

Lu Xun's descendants then applied to have the name registered as a trademark, but the application was rejected by the State Trademark Bureau, which also prohibited any commercial activity concerning Lu Xun.

Zhou Lingfei, grandson of Lu Xun, has appealed the decision, asking the national trademark evaluation committee to reconsider.

In foreign countries, it is common to use big names to brand products, such as Napoleon wine, the Lincoln sedan, and the Churchill cigar, but this is not the practice in China.

(CRI.com November 30, 2004)