Recently, trademark registration has become a hot topic on the internet. For example, when consumers buy "No.1 local pork", it is not "No.1/local pork", but "No.1 local/pork". This subtle difference in punctuation may blind your eyes. According to media reports, "Yihao Tu" is just a trademark, selling chickens, ducks, and eggs in addition to pork. What does the word "tu" in "No.1 tu" mean? Many people buy pork based on the word "tu" in the trademark, but now they realize that "tu" is just a word game played by merchants. There can be more than one type of trademark with the word 'earth'. In 2022, a company in Hubei tried to apply for "soil from the mountains" as a trademark to sell meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, etc., which was rejected by the Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration after the preliminary trial, and was replaced by "soil from the Three Gorges Mountains" to continue the application, which was rejected again. How many eggs are there in the market that consumers are buying back for the "dirt" that blocks this eye? In fact, the egg is still an ordinary egg, and spending extra money to buy it is a word for 'earth'. Article 10, Paragraph 1, Item (7) of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that if it is deceptive and easily causes the public to mistake the quality or origin of the goods, it shall not be used as a trademark. But when applying for a trademark, merchants still use various methods to insert the word "tu" into the trademark, which is difficult for regulatory authorities and consumers to guard against. Why are we always drawn to the word 'earth' for attention? In fact, consumers' pursuit of "soil" is a projection of their long-standing expectations for food safety and their fear of "technology and hard work". Over the past 20 years, every food safety incident has set up a line of defense in the public's mind. Chinese people value eating, and it should not be a matter of fear. When people feel fearful of the "periodic table of chemical elements" in food packaging ingredient lists, the simple word "earth" gives people a sense of security. In Chinese dictionaries, the word 'tu' means' local ',' folk production ',' not in line with the trend ', and so on. The word 'earth' in food advertisements is full of people's longing for their hometown and health, as well as the anxiety of modern society about 'eating'. The word 'pig' before it is enough to make countless consumers imagine. In the context of highly industrialized food and fresh food industries, local pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish are scarce. We always think that when we see "soil", it is the original ecology, not contaminated by chemicals, and the result of simple farmers' spring plowing and autumn harvest. It is truly healthy, green, clean, safe, and delicious. Pigs in "soil" are not fed with clenbuterol, vegetables are not treated with pesticides, and fish are not fed with feed. That's also why consumers care so much about the word "earth" before "pig", even though the price is higher, they still flock to it. That's why businesses care more about the word 'earth' than ever before. They know the value of the character 'tu' in modern society and the enormous business opportunities it holds. So, the character "tu" was carefully designed to become a "sickle", appearing in various forms on various trademarks, food names, pre packaging, and storefront signs. However, not all merchants are conscientious merchants, and not every consumer has a pair of discerning eyes, understands trademarks and ingredients - only those who are so serious will take samples and make testing reports. Most of the time, what attracts us is often the largest and most prominent text and images on the product packaging. However, the word "tu" understood by consumers is not the same as the word "tu" in the trademark. Many seasoning sellers like to claim on the bottle that they have "zero additives," "zero cholesterol," "zero sucrose," "zero fat," and so on. In the soy sauce industry, "Qianhe 0" and "Haitian 0" are just trademarks. In the beverage industry, a company that sells yogurt has a trademark on its packaging that reads "Raw milk, whey protein powder, lactic acid bacteria, and others are gone". In the dictionary of these marketing masters, pigs with "earth" may not be earth pigs, and soy sauce with "0" may not be zero added soy sauce. The farce of market violations has also hurt Chinese characters. The word 'earth' is a premium condition, and the word 'zero' is a marketing password. Intellectual property lawyer Yang Lihua has been exposing word games in trademarks through self media for many years, and she bluntly stated that "there are too many to write". The former trademark examiner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration said that there are still many trademarks like playing word games that need to be exposed. Some enterprises are not big enough to attract attention, and many others were rejected by the Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration at the stage of application for registration. In 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation solicited opinions from the public on the revised "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comments)", which stipulated that food labeling should not use words such as "no addition" or "zero addition" to emphasize the absence or use of substances, in order to avoid misleading consumers. However, Yang Lihua observed that at that time, many companies took advantage of the time gap before the release of the draft for soliciting opinions to launch more and more products with the words "zero addition" and "no addition". Until March 27th of this year, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation announced 59 national food safety standards and amendments, clarifying that pre packaged foods are no longer allowed to use terms such as "no additives" and "zero additives". This long-standing word game was finally stopped. For those products in the market that use "zero additives" as a marketing gimmick, this is undoubtedly a punch to the "seven inch". Yang Lihua believes that the impact of the new regulations is almost disruptive, but she still worries that word games for businesses will emerge in new ways. Perhaps the "zero additive" soy sauce has been taken down here, and the "pure series" has emerged over there; The trademark "Tu Zhu" has been targeted, and "ancient farming" has emerged. The textual tricks in trademarks will continue to hide in the face of heavy handed attacks from regulatory authorities. In 2025, the company that sells "No.1 Soil/Pig" is currently applying for a trademark called "Rural Black" - hopefully it's not just a matter of making a fuss. On the same day that the "zero addition" ban was introduced, Li Xiaobing, the president of a company selling "No.1 Soil/Pig", told the media that the company had registered the "No.1 Soil" trademark and also registered the "No.1 Soil Pig" graphic trademark, and the approved product for use was "pork". Paradoxically, on June 26, 2023, the slightly adjusted trademark application of "No. 1 Native Pig" was rejected by the Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration on the grounds that "the use of the applied trademark on the designated goods is likely to cause consumers to misunderstand the raw materials, ingredients, quality and other characteristics of the goods". The goods used in the rejected trademark application are "pork", "pork food", and "lard". The rejection decision also pointed out that the applied trademark "constitutes a situation where it cannot be used as a trademark under Article 10 (1) (7) of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China". In fact, consumers are more concerned about whether what they are buying is "local pork" than the word games on the trademark. Li Xiaobing told the media, 'Since the first day of selling pork, No.1 Food has been selling local pork.'. However, there is currently no national standard for what is "local pork", just like the lack of a unified definition for "zero additives", which is a gray area in business. Merchants who dare to play the game of "earth" are actually drilling into the gap between rules and standards. If companies can define themselves, then anyone can grab a handful of 'dirt' and cover up their own products. In the future, the 59 national food safety standards and amendments will need to be continuously updated. Hopefully, the emphasis on the rule of law, rather than words, will be on the importance of "food is paramount to the people". (New Society)