Japan concerned at geographical names becoming Chinese trademarks

TOKYO —

Japan has decided to step up its efforts to protect Japanese place names, such as Kyoto and Hiroshima, from being registered as trademarks in China, government officials said Wednesday. As the Chinese and Japanese languages share many kanji characters, an increasing number of Japanese geographical and local brand names have been registered as Chinese trademarks in recent years, fueling business risk concerns among the Japanese private-sector, said the officials at the Japan Patent Office.