University trademarks: strategies of top Chinese universities

Fierce, ever-increasing competition has prompted universities to pay more attention to their academic brand. Since the 1980s, top Chinese universities have begun to register trademarks and manage academic brands. After more than 20 years of hard work, what have they achieved? This paper, which conducts research based on big data on the trademarks and litigation of the 42 first-class universities, is the first systematic analysis of the trademark practices and strategies of Chinese universities. Our data show the following dimensions of top Chinese universities: the timing of the first trademark application, core trademark, non-core trademarks, trademark elements, distribution of trademarks in the Nice Classification, number of trademarks, legal status, and trademark litigation. Additionally, several typical universities, offering both positive and negative examples, were studied. Through the above analysis, we found that the application has some blind spots, there is a lack of initiative in trademark litigation, and the trademark management systems in universities are not considered relevant. To solve these problems, a range of suggestions from macro to micro is offered to help universities formulate a systematic and reasonable trademark protection strategy, strengthen the legal protection of their trademark rights, and improve their internal trademark management system.


Introduction
T he rise of branding in universities is partly a response to globalization (Blanton, 2007), as a brand offers a tool for them to create memorable identities in an increasingly competitive marketplace (Pinar et al., 2011). Trademarks are manifestations of brands, and a coherent brand strategy typically involves the use of trademarks (Rooksby and Collins, 2016). Organizations use trademarks "to provide information regarding the source and quality and simultaneously to convey image components regarding power, value, and personality" (Desai, 2012).
However, a university may be too complex to be encapsulated by one brand or identity definition (Waeraas and Solbakk, 2009). University leaders may well consider principles of brand management to ensure their positions vis-à-vis their competitors (Herr, 2000). Many universities, such as Harvard University, the University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California, have used trademarks to brand their identity, promote their reputation, and generate additional revenue through the sale of trademarked goods (Lamboy, 2011). Scholars refer to the phenomenon of universities "pursuing markets and market-like activities to generate external income" as academic capitalism (Slaughter, 2004). Some believe that universities' trademark rights accretion and data growth (Squicciarini et al., 2012) in the United States are further evidence of the rise of "multiversity" (Rooksby, 2014). Additionally, the data show that trademark programs have exerted a substantial and positive impact on U.S. universities, ranging from campus identity and increased enrollment to increased school recognition (Lamboy, 2011). Various places, such as Canada (Chapleo and Clark, 2016), China (Mingyang, 2004), India (Panda et al., 2019), the United States (Nguyen et al., 2016), the United Kingdom (Rutter et al., 2016), and Taiwan (China) (Chen, 2019), have witnessed that brand image exerts a positive impact on students' choices, such as degree application.
Universities differ across countries, and these differences are reflected in their sources of funding, the autonomy of admissions, internationalization, marketization, cultural environment, and other social factors. Such characteristics lead to the strong locality exhibited by university trademark issues. For example, the traditional trademark instances in U.S. universities tend to revolve around admissions, athletics, and alumni relations (McAlexander and Koenig, 2010). Especially for universities whose survival depends on external stakeholders, developing a strong brand should be an important component of their marketing strategy (Watkins and Gonzenbach, 2013). In recent years, such universities have turned to trademark institutional slogans and internet domain names outside of the.edu extension and to technology transfer office names that sound more like businesses than they do offices within a university, indicating that the concept of a brand in higher education is evolving in the direction of the market. Many universities prefer trademarks in part to capture or reflect on those commercial qualities (Rooksby and Collins, 2016).In the United Kingdom, cuts to public funding mean that universities now rely on fee income and are in direct competition with one another (Chapleo and Clark, 2016). They are thus more willing to carry out trademark work.
However, in China, most universities are public, especially top universities, and their principal funding comes from public finances. For years, the proportion of higher education expenditure in GDP has maintained growth momentum (Wenbo, 2021). Furthermore, influenced by traditional culture, universities are more willing to emphasize their public welfare attributes than their market attributes. Therefore, trademark awareness in China's universities is generally not strong. In addition, alumni relations, domain names, and technology transfer office names are not the focus of trademark approaches. Also, trademarks are underdeveloped in the sports industry, and universities seldom pay attention to sports when choosing a trademark. In terms of trademark management, due to institutional reasons, China's universities cannot form a committee of selected stakeholders to make decisions as, for example, Canadian universities can (Chapleo, 2015).
In recent years, with the expanding social influence of universities and the prosperity of the market economy in China, including the education industry, there have been frequent infringements of university trademarks. Although some universities have realized the importance of using registered trademarks to protect their brand and reputation, generally, the state of trademark protection in most universities is unsatisfactory, and there are still numerous problems. The existing Chinese research on this issue focuses mainly on the following areas: trademark protection by individual universities (Yuanhong and Jia, 2013;Zheng, 2007); trademark analysis of universities in a province or city (Qianli, 2014;Wu and Xuejiao, 2014); specific issues in trademark protection by colleges and universities, such as the name of the university (Honglan, 2015;Lele, 2016;Na, 2009) and the name of its journal (Mi, 2012;Qiuxia and Jinzhu, 2013;Yuanmei, 2016); introduction of foreign experience with trademarks (Ruihan, 2007;Zhenzhen, 2015). However, there is still a lack of comprehensive research on a group of Chinese universities based on trademark big data.
In January 2017, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission of China issued the Implementation Measures to Coordinate Development of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines Construction (Ministry of Education, 2017). The "double firstclass" structure is another national strategy in the field of higher education in China, following "Project 211" and "Project 985". According to the official list, there are 42 first-class universities in total, including 36 in Class A and 6 in Class B. We choose these 42 first-class universities as the research sample to explore the status quo and problems in trademark protection in Chinese universities, and this is the first systematic analysis of the trademarks of such a large number of universities. These universities represent the first echelon of China's higher education and enjoy high popularity, so the selected sample is typical and representative.

Data sources and methods
The trademark data in this paper were obtained from the China Trademark Website of the Trademark Office of National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and Biao Ju, the trademark search website of a well-known Chinese intellectual property company (Chaofan Company) (Biaoju, 2020; Trademark Office of CNIPA, 2020). The search date was February 17, 2020. The data retrieval and processing methods were as follows: first, the names of the 42 universities were entered individually in the column "Name of applicant (Chinese)". Second, a search was performed for accepted trademark applications, successfully authorized trademarks and invalid trademarks. Unless otherwise specified, these are collectively referred to as "trademarks" in this paper. Third, we applied statistical analysis, classification, and mapping of the acquired trademark data.
The data for trademark lawsuits in universities was obtained from the OpenLaw Judgment Document Search website (OpenLaw, 2020). Moreover, search date was February 17, 2020. The data retrieval and processing methods were as follows: first, the "advanced retrieval" function was selected on this website, in which "trademark", "civil/administrative" and each university name were entered for the three options of "keywords", "case type" and "party". Second, the retrieved lawsuits were manually filtered to obtain the final data and perform statistical analysis and classification.
The trademark activities of top Chinese universities occur primarily in mainland China, so we only count domestic trademarks. Although some universities have registered trademarks in other countries, we do not analyze those foreign trademarks for the following reasons. First, a preliminary search found that the number of foreign trademarks registered by the 42 universities in our sample varies greatly. A few universities have a considerable number of foreign trademarks (for example, Peking University), and many more universities have almost none. The inclusion of foreign trademarks in our statistical scope would dramatically weaken the horizontal comparability among universities. Second, the differences in the trademark laws of various countries would make statistical analysis more complicated and, more importantly, make some basic concepts in this paper have different meanings. For example, whether a trademark meets the "distinctiveness" requirement is the key to the success of trademark registration. The requirements for "distinctiveness" in China's trademark law are different from those in the United States. Some words are not considered distinctive in China but may be recognized in the United States. The basic concepts used in this paper are based on the provisions of China's trademark law rather than those of other countries so that the trademark strategies of top Chinese universities can be judged within one legal system. Third, the different languages of various countries would lead to confusion in the analysis of trademark elements and increase the difficulty for readers.
The trademark status of the 42 first-class universities The first trademark application. We think that the registration of the first trademark should be seen as a sign of the university's awakening to trademark awareness. Therefore, we analyze the time of the first trademark application. Top Chinese universities have been applying for trademarks since the 1980s, and by 1999, 15 universities had completed their first trademark application. During this period, academic journals established by universities flourished. To protect their academic brand, universities trademarked journal names. These are word trademarks that belong to Class 16 of the Nice Classification 1 , as defined in the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks. Among these applications, the earliest is for a trademark on "Mechanical Science and Technology" by Northwest Polytechnic University, followed by one on the "Chinese Journal of Medical Genetics" by Sichuan University, "Chinese Journal of Interventional Cardiology" by Peking University, "Interior Design" by Chongqing University, "Higher Education Research" by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and others.
Tsinghua University was the first to apply for a trademark on the abbreviation of its name (Qinghua (in Chinese), 1997). Subsequently, Wuhan University, Lanzhou University and others began to apply for trademarks on their full names, abbreviations and university seals, most being registered in Class 41 2 . University trademarks have thus gradually shifted from a focus on the names of academic journals to university names and seals, which have the closest relationship to the university.
Between 2000 and 2010, approximately 60% (25) of the universities in our sample completed their first trademark application. By comparison, Yunnan University (2012) and Minzu University of China (2017) applied for trademarks relatively later (see Fig. 1).
Distribution of core trademarks. Ramello and Silva's (2006) study found a special relationship between distinctive signs and consumers that goes beyond the purely informational sphere to touch the emotive and psychological realms: Individuals look to signs for much more than their purely informational value and consume their meaning (Ramello and Silva, 2006). Often, consumers' emotion about a university's trademarks is just that, Fig. 1 The date of the first trademark application for the 42 first-class universities. Various universities have experienced different trademark "awakening" time. Some universities started taking trademarks seriously early on, while some did not begin registering trademarks until a few years ago.
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01273-7 ARTICLE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS | (2022) 9:254 | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01273-7 especially when they have some kind of connection to the university, such as faculty, students, young people seeking admission to the university, and educational practitioners. Krasnikov et al. (2009) divided trademarks into brandidentification trademarks and brand-association trademarks (Alexander et al., 2009). However, since the trademarks analyzed in this paper do not have colors that are part of the physical goods, product shapes, packaging, sounds, scents, or motion trademarks mentioned in association with them, we do not use that classification. Instead, we divide them into core and non-core trademarks according to the degree of association between trademarks and university names. As core trademarks evoke more emotion for consumers, they receive more protection from universities. Core trademarks are further divided into six types: university seal trademark (1133), abbreviated Chinese name trademark (1562), full Chinese name trademark (536), full English name trademark (387), and abbreviated English name trademark (444). Some universities register the above five types in a selective combination, which we call the core-combination trademark (690) (see Table 1).
In terms of the total number, the university seal and abbreviated Chinese name trademarks were the most common, followed by the core-combination trademarks, while the number of abbreviated English name trademarks was the lowest. In our opinion, there are five main reasons for this distribution: First, the university seals often contain the university's name in both Chinese and English and other marks. The seal is of great significance and best represents a university, as most university seals have existed since the establishment of the university, have been in use throughout its lifespan and are very familiar to the public. Lawbreakers easily target this type of representative seal, which needs to be protected by universities. Moreover, compared with the university name, there are fewer ways to protect the seal by law, so registering it as a trademark is a good choice.
Second, considering how the Chinese public habitually expresses themselves, they prefer to use abbreviated Chinese names to refer to universities. Lawbreakers often use this tendency to mislead consumers, which then forces universities to treat the abbreviated Chinese name as the key object of protection and register it as a trademark.  (45), and Jing Gong (21). These phrases are all abbreviated Chinese names that are often used by the public for these three universities. Owing to the particularity of abbreviations for Chinese phrases, some universities may have the same abbreviated names, and in the past few years, several universities have argued for the right to the same abbreviation 4 . This issue has prompted universities to be more active in using trademarks to protect their abbreviations.
Third, one reason for the low number of full Chinese name trademarks is that some universities have registered their full names with the Ministry of Education, which they believe is a strong administrative way to protect their full names. In addition, lawbreakers use the full Chinese names of universities far less often than they use the seals and abbreviated Chinese names, which also reduces the willingness of universities to register their full Chinese names as a trademark.
Fourth, the full and abbreviated English names receive the fewest trademarks. In the Chinese-language dominant environment, the full and abbreviated English names have both low familiarity among the public and a low risk of infringement. Naturally, the number of such trademarks is minimal.
Fifth, the core-combination trademark type is preferred among universities, ranking third in total. Many universities register two or more core marks together, as these characters or symbols are not only closely related to the university but often appear together in actual use. For example, on official websites, souvenirs and official papers, both the full Chinese and English names and the seal are used. Zhengzhou University is a representative instance. It has applied for 139 core-combination trademarks, including combinations of the seal and the full name in both Chinese and English (46), combinations of the full name in Chinese and English (45), and combinations of the seal and the abbreviation in both Chinese and English (38).
In general, the number of applications for the six types of core trademarks is proportional to their significance, use scenarios, public awareness and the risk of infringement.
Distribution of non-core trademarks. According to manual statistical analysis, the non-core trademarks of the 42 universities are distributed mainly as follows: affiliated unit (636 trademarks), famous scenic campus location (373 trademarks), historical name (586 trademarks), and other type (2508 trademarks) (see Table 2).
In China, many universities have affiliated units, including hospitals, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and companies. Some of these affiliated units also have good reputations and market competitiveness, and thus, their brands are valued and protected by the universities. For example, East China Normal University has an excellent reputation in education, and its affiliated schools are also famous. This university has applied for 101 trademarks for the names of affiliated units, including 35 applications for the Second High School affiliated with East China Normal University. West China Hospital (Chinese name: Hua Xi) is affiliated with Sichuan University, which is well-known worldwide. Sichuan University has registered many trademarks related to "Hua Xi". Nevertheless, other universities have not considered these intangible assets or have not applied for trademarks on their subsidiary units. The data showed that 13 universities have applied for 10 or fewer trademarks related to affiliated units, while 16 universities did not have a single trademark related to an affiliated unit.
Some famous scenic campus locations also evoke universities, especially historic ones, and are thus protected through trademarks. For instance, Peking University has applied for 162 trademarks in various classes related to scenic campus locations, including Weiming Hu (53), Boya Ta (36) and Yan Yuan (29) 5 . Wuhan University is located on Luojia Mountain, so they registered Luojia (44) and Luojia Shan (44) as trademarks. However, overall, only 9 universities demonstrated such a trademark strategy, while 79 percent (33 universities) have not focused on famous scenic campus locations that could be associated with their brands.
Thirty-three percent (14) of universities also valued their historical names. There are two main sources for historical names. The first is past mergers with other colleges and universities in the process of expansion, through which the name of the merged colleges or universities became the historical name. Some of these merged schools still maintain a high reputation after the merger, and universities now protect these historical names with trademarks. For example, Jilin University was founded in 1946 and later merged with Jilin University of Technology (Chinese name: Jilin Gong Ye Da Xue), Norman   (45), "Chang Ke Da" (45), and "Chang You" (45). There are 225 trademark applications related to the historical names of Jilin University, accounting for 38% of the total. The second source of historical names are those that have been used by universities with a long history. These names remain well-known and are often referred to by the public as the "old names". For example, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, whose historical name is the Chengdu Institute of Telecommunications Engineering and is abbreviated as "Cheng Dian" in Chinese (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 2019), applied for 37 trademarks on "Cheng Dian" in 2018. Among the "other" type of trademarks, the name of the academic forum is prominent. To protect their academic reputation, some universities have trademarked the names of their academic forums. The universities representing this approach are Tianjin University, which regards Beiyang Lecture Hall (the Chinese name is Beiyang Da Jiang Tang) as the symbol of its academic spirit (Tianjin University, 2018) and has applied for 9 trademarks on "Beiyang Da Jiang Tang" and "Beiyang Lun Tan" (meaning Beiyang Forum), and Wuhan University, which has sought to protect the well-known Luojia Forum through 19 trademarks.
Distribution of trademark elements. Generally, words, graphics, letters, or any combination of the three are the most common trademark elements. Different elements convey different messages and generate different brand associations for consumers. Generally, word trademarks and combined trademarks with words convey the most direct information and have the strongest information transmission power, allowing consumers to directly know from which university the goods or services originate. The information conveyed by letters and graphics requires consumers to have knowledge reserves about a university's English name abbreviation, seal, etc., to associate it with the university. Our data showed that the word trademark was indeed the most highly favored by universities, with the highest number (3925, accounting for 44.5%) of applications. The trademarks sought primarily include the university's name, the affiliated unit's name, the historical name, and so on. The number of elementcombination trademarks was the second largest (3312, accounting for 37.5%), most of which apply to combinations of multiple elements, including the university's name, year of establishment, and graphics. Letter trademarks ranked third (1258, accounting for 14%), most of which are full or abbreviated English names. The number of graphic trademarks was the lowest (350, accounting for 4%) and includes mainly seals, landmark buildings, and campus mascots (see Table 3).
Based on the word trademark data, Peking University (385), Jilin University (321), and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (310) ranked in the top three. Overall, four universities have applied for more than 200 word trademarks, which far exceeds the number of word trademarks held by other universities. Ten universities have applied for 100-200 word trademarks, and 28 universities have applied for fewer than 100 word trademarks. The Harbin Institute of Technology, Minzu University of China and Xinjiang University have not yet applied for a word trademark.
For the element-combination trademarks, East China Normal University (321), Zhengzhou University (276), Beijing Normal University (229) and Tianjin University (210) had the most. They were also the only four universities with more than 200 applications for element-combination trademarks. Each of the other 31 universities had fewer than 100, and Wuhan University had zero element-combination trademarks.
In terms of graphic trademarks, only 28 universities have applied for this kind of trademark, and each has applied for fewer than 100. The Beijing Institute of Technology was the most prominent, having applied for 92 graphic trademarks on its seal and the individual tree logo taken from the seal.
For the letter trademark (indicating that the trademark is composed of English letters, whereas the word trademark mentioned above is composed of Chinese words), Tianjin University (121) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (110) ranked first and second, respectively. As many as 32 universities have between 1 and 100 letter trademarks, while another 8 have not applied for any letter trademarks.
The distribution of trademark elements shows that each university prefers different elements. For example, Peking University, Tianjin University and Beijing Institute of Technology all had more applications for the above four trademark elements. Xiamen University, Hunan University and Yunnan University showed a preference for two elements, while others did not show any preference. Xinjiang University (73), Harbin Institute of Technology (57) and Minzu University of China (45) only applied for element-combination trademarks and did not apply for trademarks for the other three elements.
Distribution of trademarks in the Nice Classification. The Nice Classification lists goods and services in 45 classes, one or several of which must be selected when applying for a trademark.
According to the Nice Classification information, the trademarks for which universities have applied can be categorized mainly in the following classes: Class 41 (education and entertainment) (716), Class 42 (website services) 6 (525), Class 16 (office supplies) 7 (440), Class 9 (scientific instruments) 8 (368), and Class 35 (advertising sales) (360) 9 . These classes comprise 28% of the total. The number of other classes of trademarks ranges from 100 to 230. In addition, agricultural universities have applied for a very small number of trademarks in Class 29 (food and fish) 10 (see Fig. 2).
As illustrated, those classes with a large number of trademarks are closely related to the educational and scientific research activities of universities and are also the areas hardest hit by trademark infringement.
The number of trademarks and legal status. The number of trademarks held by each of the 42 universities and the legal status of these trademarks varies greatly (see Table 4). Four universities (Peking University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology and Tianjin University) held more than 500 trademarks each, among which Peking University topped the list with 619, far more than any other university; 24 universities held between 100 and 500 trademarks; 10 universities held between 30-99; and 4 universities have only applied for approximately 20 trademarks each. The number of universities in each of the four ranges accounted for 9.5%, 57%, 24%, and 9.5% of the 42 universities, respectively. The overall distribution shows an "olive shape" with small ends and a large middle (see Fig. 3).
Valid trademarks are truly legally protected assets. We also need to study trademarks' legal status, which can also help us judge whether the university's trademark strategy is reasonable. The existence of numerous invalid trademarks indicates that the university's trademark strategy is faulty and wasteful of resources. Numerous pending trademarks suggest that the university is working hard to expand its trademark "territory" through a highly active trademark strategy. So the legal status of a trademark can be divided into valid, pending, and invalid. According to the data on the legal state of trademarks, the valid trademarks held by the 42 universities (6957) accounted for 79% of the total, invalid trademarks (1059) accounted for 12%, and pending trademarks (829) accounted for 9%. For most universities, the highest proportion was of valid trademarks, and the largest number of valid trademarks was held by Peking University (533). Given its years of brand exploration and protection, it would be difficult for other universities to match this number. Next, the Beijing Institute of Technology (486) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (441) both showed excellent results. One impressive finding is that all the trademarks of Lanzhou University, Yunnan University, the University of Science and Technology of China, Dalian University of Technology and the National University of Defense Technology are valid; these institutions have no pending or invalid trademarks.
The number of invalid trademarks varied greatly among universities. Fifteen universities held fewer than 10 invalid trademarks, which together accounted for 4% of the total invalid trademarks. Tianjin University (137), East China Normal University (108) and Zhengzhou University (107) accounted for 33% of the invalid trademarks. Although the total number of trademarks for Tianjin University was relatively large, many applications, such as "INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR PLUS" and similar phrases that are not distinctive, were rejected, resulting in a high number of invalid trademarks. Similarly, East China Normal University applied for 36 combined trademarks for "Chao Yue Zhi Zao +L" (meaning "Overlimit Manufacturing+ L") that were rejected, and Zhengzhou University's applications for numerous "Qiu Shi Dan Dang" (meaning "seeking truth and taking responsibility") trademarks were rejected. The common feature of these two cases is again that a lack of distinctiveness led to the rejection of trademark applications in dozens of classes of Nice Classifications. This situation exposes the unprofessionalism and mistakes of such a trademark strategy.
Southeast University (182), Nanjing University (148) and Sichuan University (142) had the largest number of pending trademarks. These universities were not high on the list of those holding valid trademarks, ranking 33, 28 and 17, respectively. Since they hold few valid trademarks, they are strongly motivated to continue to explore and create trademarks. These three universities submitted numerous applications in 2019, and by the date of the retrieval, many of which have not yet completed the registration process.
After a few years of high growth, most universities have made very limited new applications in recent years. Twenty universities had 1-9 pending trademarks, and 11 universities had no pending trademarks.
The status quo of trademark litigation at the 42 first-class universities Trademark rights infringement. Most universities have trademarked their names and other related symbols. However, universities' trademark rights are still frequently infringed in diverse ways, resulting in reputational damage. The following are common types of infringement.
Using a trademark identical to a registered trademark on identical goods or services without authorization by the trademark registrant. In Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province, Beijing and other places, some education and training companies use the "Tsinghua" trademark, which is a typical case of this kind of infringement. In another example, Shanghai Fuhao Education Counseling Company, without authorization, established a website named "Shanghai Fudan Auxiliary Center". Its logo used the words "Fudan" and "Fudan ming xiao", causing confusion among the public and infringing upon the trademark rights of Fudan University (Fudan University, 2017).
Using a trademark similar to a registered trademark on identical goods or services without authorization by the trademark registrant. In these cases, lawbreakers use a so-called "trademark" with the same pronunciation as the university's trademark or combine the university's word trademark with other words, resulting in public confusion. Typical infringements include Shenzhen Reikeda Computer Development Technology Co., Ltd., which used the combination of "Qinghua + graph" and "Xiao Qinghua + graph" (both have the same pronunciation but different characters from Tsinghua) registered in Class 9; the combination trademark contains a simple diagram of the second gate of Tsinghua University. Li Lingyi used "Tsinghua Zaixian" (meaning "Tsinghua Online"), Qingdao Yuandian Culture Media Co., Ltd. used "Tsinghua Nan Du", Hou Qinghua and Zhang Xiuqing used "Tsinghua Xiao Bo Shi" (meaning "little doctor in Tsinghua"), and Liu Qingyu used "Tsinghua Qing Hang" (meaning "Tsinghua's musical instrument store"). All the above behaviors mislead the public into believing that these firms have specific connections with Tsinghua University, similar to the companies affiliated with Tsinghua University whose trademarks are "Tsinghua Tong Fang" and "Tsinghua Zi Guang" (Na, 2007).  Selling goods that infringe upon the trademark rights of universities. Cultural and creative products, such as t-shirts, postcards and stationery, are often favored by consumers, especially university alumni. Such products are the "bread and butter" of illegal traders, and both offline and online stores sell such goods everywhere. Our survey found that in Ciqikou, a famous scenic spot in Chongqing, many shops sell goods with the trademark of Chongqing University without authorization. In Tanhualin, a scenic area of Wuhan, shops are also selling souvenirs bearing Wuhan University's trademark. On Taobao and other online shopping sites, there are countless online shops selling products with university trademarks without authorization. According to the Trademark Law, all these behaviors infringe upon the trademark rights of the university.
In addition to the above behaviors, there are also issues with rushing registration for universities' marks. For instance, Zhang Liguo, a natural person, applied to register "Chuan Da" (meaning Sichuan University) in Class 41 in 2004. In 2015, Chunhui Dadi Company registered "Ren Ren Ren", the core part of the seal of Renmin University of China.
Trademark litigation. Although many trademarks have been registered, it remains challenging for most universities to protect their rights in the face of infringement. According to the data, only 11 of the 42 universities have participated in judicial action against trademark infringement as civil plaintiffs, administrative plaintiffs, or third parties. Other than Tsinghua University, the other 10 universities have engaged in very few lawsuits (see Table  5). This result reflects a context in which the trademark protection of universities focuses on defense before infringement but remains weak in defending rights afterward.
From the perspective of case types, the main judicial approaches to trademark lawsuits regarding universities are as follows.
As a plaintiff in civil litigation, the university brings a lawsuit against the person who has infringed upon the trademark rights. As of the retrieval date, only four universities had directly initiated civil litigation to safeguard their trademark rights.
If a university objects to or invalidates a trademark registered by another person, the other person may file an administrative lawsuit against the decision of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. In such cases, the university participates as the third party in the administrative litigation.
As a plaintiff in administrative litigation, the university is defending its rights. There are two main reasons that a university would participate: (1) The university files an administrative lawsuit after its trademark application is rejected. For example, after Shanghai Jiao Tong University's application for "Jiao Da Fa Xue" (meaning Law Review of Shanghai Jiao Tong University) in Class 16 was rejected, it filed an administrative lawsuit. Ultimately, the court affirmed this trademark's distinctiveness and upheld the university's claim. (2) The university files an administrative lawsuit after its petition to invalidate the trademark of another firm or person is rejected. Fudan University petitioned for invalidation of the trademarks of "Fudan Hui" and "Fudan Chun", but was rejected by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. The Board considered that the service used by the two trademarks was quite different from the trademarks registered by Fudan University in terms of functional purpose, sales channel, etc., and that consumers generally would not confuse or misidentify the source of the products. Therefore, the Board rejected the petition. However, the court believed that the "Fudan" series trademark was well-known 11 , and the lawsuit request by Fudan University was broadly supported. Ultimately, these two trademarks were successfully declared invalid.

Four typical examples of different trademark protection strategies
Having reviewed the current situation for trademark protection at many universities, we now choose four typical examples, positive and negative, for analysis.
Activist: Tsinghua University's trademark protection "war". As one of the top universities in China, Tsinghua University enjoys a high reputation both at home and abroad. As of February 17, 2020, Tsinghua University ranked 7th in the total number of trademarks (386) and 11th in the number of valid trademarks (262). Its trademarks include its full name in both Chinese and English, the abbreviated name in both Chinese and English, the seal, the university slogan, landmark buildings, and other elements. The Nice Classification in which these trademarks are defined has also been extended from Class 41 to many other classes. Tsinghua University's efforts to protect its brand and its trademark awareness make it an exemplar for other universities. Nevertheless, many people have taken advantage of its good reputation, created consumer confusion, obtained improper business interests, and infringed upon the trademark rights of Tsinghua University. In recent years, Tsinghua University has actively sued many infringers to defend its trademark rights (see Table 6).
Why are the trademark rights of Tsinghua University so frequently infringed? In our opinion, there are two reasons: First, as a top university, Tsinghua University enjoys a high reputation, and many people seek to exploit its reputation illegally. These trademark infringement cases occurred not only in Beijing but also in Jiangsu, Shenzhen, Jinan, Xiamen and other places. Second, Tsinghua University has as many as 1247 holding companies (Qcc.com-National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, 2020); and Tsinghua Holdings Co., Ltd. ranks 137th in 2018 China's Top 500 companies list(China Business Intelligence Network, 2018). There are many of these companies, their business reputation is high, and some of these companies directly take "Tsinghua" as their trademark or part of their name. Lawbreakers also use "Tsinghua/Qinghua X X", which is more likely to confuse the public.
A large number of infringement cases have promoted the protection of Tsinghua University trademarks. Its motivation to strengthen trademark protection reflects its appreciation of trademarks and goodwill, and hopes to protect the public from misinformation, with the aim of maintaining fair competition.
Better late than never: the "Ren Ren Ren" trademark case of Renmin University of China. The seal of Renmin University of China is composed of three parallel seal "Ren" characters, the name in both Chinese and English, and the date of its founding. In January 2003, the university registered the seal and "Ren Ren Ren" as trademarks in several different Nice classes. According to the Trademark Law of China (Articles 39 and 40), the period of validity of a registered trademark shall be 10 years, commencing from the date of approval of registration. A trademark registrant  The defendants used the word "Tsinghua" in the "Xiao Tsinghua Kindergarten" or used "Tsinghua" in advertising campaigns. Their combination trademarks had the word "Tsinghua", and they used this word as a significant part of the logo, which could easily cause public confusion and constituted trademark infringement.

Constitutes infringement 2019
An Di Shu Kindergarten in Guangdong Xinfeng County (former name: Tsinghua English and Chinese Art Kindergarten) The defendant used "Tsinghua" in the kindergarten's name without authorization, which gave the relevant public the impression that it was connected to Tsinghua University, causing market chaos and infringing upon trademark rights.

Constitutes infringement 2019
Hui Yi Da International Translation Company The defendant used "Tsinghua" conspicuously on its website, "Tsinghua and Peking University Tutoring Center," without authorization, thus illegally profiting and infringing upon the trademark rights.

Constitutes infringement 2018
Beijing Kai Yue Xin Cheng Culture Co. Ltd The defendant infringed upon the trademark rights by conducting large-scale training and enrollment on its website under the names "Tsinghua University" and "Tsinghua" without authorization.

Constitutes infringement 2018
Shenzhen Tsing Zhi Hua Musical Instrument Co. Ltd, Tsinghua musical instrument store The defendant, without authorization, used the same trade name and trademark as Tsinghua University's famous trademark No. 1225974 ("Tsinghua") in "school (education), education, training and other classes" in its musical instrument store, which infringed upon the trademark right.

Constitutes infringement 2017
Oshan Ju Yang New Energy Co., Ltd, Rongda LUO (natural person) The defendant used "Tsinghua Wang Pai" (meaning Tsinghua's ace card) as the core identification component of its logo. As "Wang Pai" is not distinctive, the core identification component of "Tsinghua Wang Pai" is "Tsinghua", which is similar to the registered trademark of Tsinghua University.

Constitutes infringement
intending to continue to use the registered trademark upon expiry of the period of validity shall undergo renewal formalities within 12 months before expiry according to the relevant provisions. If failing to do so, the trademark registrant may be granted a sixmonth grace period…… If the renewal formalities are not undergone within the grace period, the registration of the trademark shall be canceled. However, after the successful registration (application/registration No. 3446082, Fig. 4) and "Ren Ren Ren" trademark (application/registration No. 3446083, Fig. 5) registered in Class 41, Renmin University of China did not apply for renewal until the expiration of the extension period. In February 2015, Chun Hui Da Di Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., in Quanzhou city of Fujian Province (hereafter referred to as "Chun Hui Da Di Company"), applied for trademark "Xu Fu Ren" (meaning Mrs. Xu) (application/registration No. 16344046, Fig. 6) on Class 41. The trademark takes "Ren Ren Ren" as the core and is decorated with a circle around it. Inside the circle are three Chinese characters, "Xu Fu Ren". At the same time, it applied for another trademark (application/registration No. 16344105, Fig. 7) on "Ren Ren Ren", which is exactly the same as the "Ren Ren Ren" of Renmin University of China. Both applications were authorized in 2016. Zhuang Xueren, the legal representative of the company, said in an interview that the two registered trademarks of Renmin University of China had expired but not been renewed, which should be regarded as an automatic waiver of all rights. The application of Chun Hui Da Di Company for "Ren Ren Ren" and its series of trademarks was in full compliance with legal provisions (People's Network, 2016).
In response, Renmin University of China filed a petition for invalidation with the Trademark Office in January 2017. After the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board invalidated the series of trademarks of Chun Hui Da Di Company, the company refused to accept the decision and applied for a reexamination. After the reexamination application was rejected, the company continued to file an administrative suit. Finally, in March 2019, the court held that the "Ren Ren Ren" series trademarks of Chun Hui Da Di Company infringed upon the prior copyright of Renmin University of China and that it could not prove the real use intention behind the trademark applications; thus, the court again rejected the suit request of Chun Hui Da Di Company (Higher People's Courts, 2019).
Renmin University of China took more than 2 years and expended considerable effort to fill the gap caused by its failure to renew its trademark in time. We call this case "better late than never". However, the lesson of this incident is profound: The university can protect against the loss of manpower, material resources and reputation simply by investing an extremely low management cost in advance. In this case, Renmin University of China learned its lesson and subsequently applied for numerous trademarks.
In addition to Renmin University of China, other universities have also lost their rights due to a lack of management after trademark registration and the failure to renew their trademarks    in time. For example, the trademarks of Dalian University of Technology registered in 1998 ("Da Gong" in Chinese, and the graphic from the university's seal) were not renewed when they expired and then were canceled. The trademark of China Agricultural University, registered in 2003, was also canceled because it was not renewed. This problem should receive more attention.
Intensive registration: Sichuan University's "Huaxi" series trademarks. Sichuan University, one of China's top universities, is a combination of three former national universities: the former Sichuan University, the former Chengdu University of Science and Technology, and the former Huaxi University of Medical Sciences. The history of the third University can be traced back to Huaxi Union University in 1910, which was the earliest modern university in southwestern China and one of the earliest universities to train graduate students (Sichuan University, 2019). After the merger, Sichuan University has developed into a top university in medicine. According to the 2018 Annual Ranking List of Chinese Hospitals released by the Hospital Management Research Institute of Fudan University, Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University has been ranked 2nd in comprehensive performance and 1st in scientific research for 10 consecutive years (China News Network, 2019). In a ranking of medical institutions from October 2017 to September 2018 released by the world's top scientific journal, Nature Publishing Group, in December 2018, Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University ranked first in China (Instrument Information Network, 2017).
In order to protect the strong reputation and brand value of "Huaxi", Sichuan University has applied for a total of 125 trademarks on the "Huaxi" series (including "Huaxi Ya Ke" (meaning Huaxi Dental), "Huaxi Kou Qiang" (meaning Huaxi Stomatology), "Huaxi Yi Xue" (meaning Huaxi Medicine) and several combinations of Chinese and English words related to "Huaxi"), with particular focus in 2015 and 2016. These trademarks far outnumber the trademarks (83) related to the name and seal of Sichuan University.
Although Sichuan University has registered many "Huaxi" series trademarks, infringement remains rampant. According to a 2019 survey by Wang Jinfu, a member of the Chengdu Political Consultative Conference, more than 3000 private medical institutions currently use the name "Huaxi", while there are only a small number of true Huaxi hospitals (Sichuan Committee Of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, 2019). As a trademark owner, Sichuan University has not shown satisfactory initiative. Websites that host judicial documents, such as China Judgments Online (China Judgements Online, 2020), Wusong Cases Website (Wusong Case, 2020) and OPENLAW, show no litigations about trademark rights involving Sichuan University as a party. Trademark owners who are slack in exercising their rights, to a large extent, encourage infringers to engage in their illegal behavior.
Attending to trifles and neglecting the essentials: Minzu University of China only registered the single trademark "56 Chuang". "56 Chuang" is the name of the Centre for Innovation and Enterprise of Minzu University of China, which was established in March 2016; the "56 Chuang" logo was officially confirmed in November of the same year. In June 2017, Minzu University of China applied for "56 Chuang," which is also its only trademark, as a trademark in all 45 classes.
"56 Chuang" has become the recognized name for innovation and entrepreneurship education in this university because of its unique name and connotation, and it is understandable to trademark it. However, the university's overall trademark strategy does not make sense. Trademarking "56 Chuang" in all classes but none of those elements that most directly relate to the university's name and seal, was unreasonable, lack of focus and a waste of resources. That is, there is no comprehensive trademark protection. So we call this case "attending to trifles and neglecting the essentials".

Problems in trademark strategies of top Chinese universities
The trademark data, litigation data and typical examples in this study reflect the different trademark strategies of top Chinese universities. Tsinghua University is one of the few universities with strong trademark awareness, high enthusiasm for rights protection and reasonable brand management. Other universities demonstrate some type of issue with their strategies. We summarize our analysis in the following three points.
Some blindness in trademark applications. With the overall enhancement of China's awareness of intellectual property rights, the number of trademark applications in universities is increasing, but there is some blindness in this trend, mainly reflected in the following aspects.
First, unwise selection of core trademarks, non-core trademarks, or elements of trademarks. 38% (16 universities) have not applied to trademark their full Chinese name, 48% (20 universities) have not applied to trademark their full English name, 17% (7 universities) have not applied for the school seal, 19% (8 universities) have not applied to trademark their Chinese abbreviations, and 69% (29 universities) have not applied to trademark the above core combinations. Some universities applied for one or several core trademarks in multiple Nice classes, or even in all 45 classes, but not for others.
Some universities have failed to consider comprehensively the layout of different trademark elements, such as words, graphics, letters and combinations. For instance, applications in only one or two classes completely ignore the other potentially applicable classes. Such universities accounted for 14% of the sample (6 universities).
Second, lack of prioritization of core trademarks and non-core trademarks. Tongji University, for example, began to apply for trademarks in 2002, but its first trademark was a typical non-core trademark "SIMBA" (Shanghai International MBA), without timely applications for the core elements, such as the full name and abbreviation in both Chinese and English. In 2003, Tongji University's application for "Tongji" in Class 41 was rejected because the former Wuhan Tongji Medical University had registered the "Tongji" trademark as early as 1998. The latter then transferred the trademark to the affiliated hospital, Tongji Medical School of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, which is now engaged in medical services rather than medical education. Although Tongji University filed trademark administrative and judicial procedures (Honglan, 2015), which took 10 years, it still failed to recapture the "Tongji" trademark. Also, Minzu University of China registered only noncore trademarks "56 Chuang", ignoring those core trademarks which are more closely related to its reputation and brand.
Third, some trademarks had no distinctiveness. Many slogans convey a sense of market identification and orientation (Rooksby and Collins, 2016), which the university uses to market or brand itself or some aspect of its operations (Rooksby, 2014). In the United States, university logans such as THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE (Registration No. 2,197,580,No. 1,970,607,University of Pennsylvania) and GETTING TO OUTCOMES (Registration No. 3,488,332, University of South Carolina) have been successfully trademarked. However, in China, when the words used in slogans are common, they will most likely fail the trademark examination. Taking Zhengzhou University as an example, its slogan is "Qiu Shi Dan Dang" (meaning seeking truth and taking responsibility), which wanted to be trademarked in all 45 classes. As "Qiu Shi Dan Dang" is a common Chinese idiom and lacks distinctiveness, this series of applications was rejected by the Trademark Office, resulting in considerable waste of human and financial resources. Additional examples include Fudan University's trademark application for "Quan Qiu Fa Zhan Lun Tan" (meaning Global Development Forum) and Northwest A&F University's trademark application for "Gan Za" (meaning miscellaneous crops of Gansu Province), "Qin Mai" (meaning Shanxi Province wheat), "Qin Jiao" (meaning Shanxi Province chili), "Shan Mian" (meaning Shanxi Province cotton) and "Shan You" (meaning Shanxi Province oil). Additionally, trademark applications such as Tianjin University's "institute of molecular plus" and "Fen Zi + Yan Jiu Yuan" (meaning molecular + research institute) were all rejected for no distinctiveness.
Most universities lack initiative in legal measures to defend trademarks. Data shows that most universities did not take legal measures to protect their trademarks. Only a few universities have chosen lawsuits, trademark objections, invalidations, and other legal measures, taking the role of the civil plaintiff, administrative plaintiff, or third party in the judicial proceedings and directly punishing infringers. Among them, Tsinghua University, which has a strong awareness of trademark protection and many holding companies, holds a strong internal motivation to protect its goodwill, brand and trademarks by legal measures. Although other universities also have holding companies, such as Harbin Institute of Technology (369 holding companies) and Shanghai Jiaotong University (348 holding companies), these universities clearly show weak initiative in defending their trademarks.
Our survey found that after learning of suspected trademark infringement, some universities have simply posted statements on their official websites reminding the public not to be deceived (Fudan University, 2017). China University of Political Science and Law (School of Social Sciences, China University of Political Science and Law, 2019), Communication University of China (Faculty of Continuing Education, Communication University of China, 2013) and others have issued such statements. Obviously, the cost of a statement is extremely low compared to that of litigation. The latter requires more money, time and labor. However, in China, the compensation in trademark infringement cases is not satisfactory, totaling approximately 20-23% of the amount claimed by the plaintiff (Xiaozhen and Huiting, 2021;Ying, 2020). To a certain extent, due to cost and benefit considerations, universities are less motivated to pursue litigation or other legal measures. The consequence of this is that the deterrent effect on the infringer and the reminder to the public are extremely limited. Always choose to make a statement; this approach does not offer a long-term solution to protect trademark rights in universities.
Trademark management systems in universities are not considered relevant. Very few of the 42 universities have designated trademark management offices, such as the Logo Management Office of Peking University (Sign Management Office of Peking University, 2020) or the Intellectual Property Management Office of Tsinghua University (Yuanhong and Jia, 2013) To obtain a more detailed understanding of the internal trademark management system, we interviewed the Legal and Institutional Management Office of Chongqing University. Chongqing University has fewer registered trademarks overall, and their elements are relatively simple: It registered several abbreviated Chinese trademarks for "Chong Da" in 2003 and 2008 and did not apply for the university's seal as a trademark until 2018. Regarding. We received the following reply from the staff about trademark management: (1) Chongqing university does not have an independent intellectual property management department, and trademarks are managed by the Legal and Institutional Management Office. If the secondary department needs to register a trademark, it may apply to this office, which will provide a uniform application for registration. For example, trademarks such as "Chongqing Da Xue Jiao Shi Jiao Xue Fa Zhan Zhong Xin" (meaning Teacher Teaching Development Center of Chongqing University), "Tu Mu Yu Huan Jing Gong Cheng Xue Bao" (meaning Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering) and "Ren Ju Huan Jing Xue Bao" (meaning Journal of Human Settlements Environment) were all proposed by secondary departments using such procedures.
(2) The office is very busy; trademark issues represent a small proportion of its work, and staff are busy addressing other legal disputes. (3) When the university trademarked the seal, it considered applying for the English name and landmark building logo at the same time, but failed to do so due to insufficient funds. (4) The university's full Chinese name has been recorded by the Ministry of Education. If it is infringed upon, protection may also be exercised through this channel. Although trademark registration will increase the approaches to protection, there is not sufficient need to register.
As shown by the above analysis and interviews, due to the low demand for trademark work, universities generally devote relatively few resources and combine trademark management together with other legal affairs. In terms of human resources, the staff's trademark knowledge is limited, and their level of professionalism in this area is unsatisfactory. Moreover, insufficient funding makes it difficult to support the work. These problems lead to neglect and a lack of systematic and comprehensive trademark management. Also, this work requires professional skills to understand the value and necessity of registration, the selection of trademark types and elements, the renewal process, litigation, license, and other matters. Universities need to construct an effective management system to protect their trademarks.

Conclusion and suggestions
This study showed that 42 top universities have uneven levels of trademark strategy. Most universities' strategies are not systematic and reasonable. They need to realize that trademarks represent their hard-won and precious reputation. Trademark registration, management, and the aggressive pursuit of infringement can not only protect universities' intangible property but also maintain market order and improve social welfare. Universities need to improve many aspects of their trademark strategies.
We offer the following suggestions for the reference of intellectual property administration departments and relevant persons in universities: Formulate a systematic and reasonable trademark registration strategy. The function of a trademark registration strategy is to define and protect the valuable trademark at the macro level. The following three points should be considered: First, the university should consider the high-level registration and arrangement of trademarks overall. The name, seal and related symbols are valuable intangible assets that represent the reputation it has accumulated in many areas, such as academic studies, scientific research and education. To facilitate trademark management, use and development, the university needs to register and arrange trademarks as part of a comprehensive strategy. It cannot only rely on secondary units and other departments to submit applications, which could easily lead to problems with disorganization and divided priorities. As most universities have established affiliated units, unified management can prevent affiliates from registering core trademarks before the university and reduce the legal risks of using core trademarks.
Second, the most valuable symbols should be trademarked. The core marks of a university, such as names and seals, are very valuable and must be protected. The names of famous scenic campus locations, landmark buildings and affiliated units should also be selectively trademarked to ensure comprehensive protection of intangible university assets. However, marks of lower value, such as conference names used only once or a few times, are not trademarked to reduce unnecessary expenses.
Third, the trademark registration strategy should be based on the university's own real needs. It is unwise to register a trademark in all 45 classes without considering the actual demands. In the face of numerous infringements, it is also wrong not to register trademarks. Considering its history, social reputation, specialties, affiliated units and shareholding companies, relevant trademarks should be registered. Moreover, blindly following the trend and being overly conservative is not advisable.
Strengthen the legal protection of trademarks. Merely registering a trademark is not enough. Universities should actively take legal measures to severely crack down on those infringements.
Once an infringement is discovered, the university can send a legal letter to the lawbreaker, file a civil lawsuit, or provide evidence to market supervisors, administrative departments and public security agencies (as a serious infringement of trademark rights can constitute a crime).
When someone applies for a similar trademark or preemptively registers a trademark, the university should file an objection during the appropriate period so that opportunists do not gain any opportunities. In a particular situation, universities shall file a petition for invalidation promptly to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and take the board to court if the decision is not satisfactory.
In short, being careless in rights protection is undesirable. By actively safeguarding their trademarks and aggressively pursuing infringement, universities can not only defend their legal rights but also send a warning to potential infringers.
Improve trademark internal management system. At the micro level, universities can improve their internal trademark management systems in the following aspects.
Give trademark management a high priority and allocate resources: Registration is a low-cost way to obtain stable and long-term legal protection for trademarks and brands. Providing adequate human and financial resources for trademark management is a very cost-effective investment. At the same time, improving the trademark awareness of the middle leaders is necessary, because the literature indicates that brand support by midlevel administrative staff and deans is a key element in the internal branding of a university (Clark et al., 2020).
Set up a special trademark management system: Trademark registration, protection and management of trademarks require high-level professional skills. If it is managed by the general office, problems will inevitably arise. We suggest that universities, if able, establish a special intellectual property management office to handle trademark and other intellectual property rights. Universities with limited resources may adopt alternative solutions, such as setting up a legal consulting team or entrusting a trademark agency. In this way, trademark experts can provide professional advice to make up for the lack of professional knowledge of administrative staff, and thus improve the rationality of trademark decision-making. To facilitate the implementation of trademark strategy and avoid operational problems, we recommend that universities develop a complete trademark management manual. The specific contents of this manual can be created by referring to the "Intellectual Property Management for Higher Education Institutions" (GB/T 33251-2016) issued by the Standardization Administration of China (Standardization Administration of China, 2016).
Establish the timeline management for advance notification and early warning: China's Trademark Law has clear provisions on the timing of trademark renewal, cancellation, invalidation, reexamination and defense. For example, the period of validity of a registered trademark shall be 10 years, a registered trademark that has not been used for three consecutive years without good reason may be canceled, and a prior rights holder or an interested party may petition the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to invalidate a registered trademark (that violates the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law) within 5 years from the date of trademark registration. Universities have many trademarks, and the deadlines and issues for each one are highly diverse. With the help of computer software to build timeline management and obtain advance notices and early warnings, universities can effectively avoid the losses and adverse legal consequences caused by personnel transfer, omission and simply forgetting.

Data availability
The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Received: 13 April 2021; Accepted: 20 July 2022; Notes 1 Class 16, Paper and cardboard; printed matter; bookbinding material; photographs; stationery and office requisites, except furniture; adhesives for stationery or household purposes; drawing materials and materials for artists; paintbrushes; instructional and teaching materials; plastic sheets, films and bags for wrapping and packaging; printers' type, printing blocks. 2 Class 41, Education; providing of training; entertainment; sporting and cultural activities. 3 Da Xue means university. In Chinese, "university" is often simply "da" for short. 4 Nanjing University, Nankai University and Nanchang University can all be referred to as "Nan Da" in Chinese. Southeast University (the full Chinese name is Dongnan Da Xue) and Northeastern University (the full Chinese name is Dongbei Da Xue) can both be referred to as "Dong Da" in Chinese. These universities have disputes over the Chinese abbreviations, which also cause misunderstandings among the public. 5 Weiming Hu means Weiming Lake, Boya Ta means Boya Tower. These are representative scenic campus locations at Peking University. Yan Yuan was once the name of the campus of Peking University, and it was a famous scenic location on the outskirts of Beijing. 6 Class 42. Scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto; industrial analysis, industrial research and industrial design services; quality control and authentication services; design and development of computer hardware and software.