China court denies "Washington" trademark

This story notes that the Washington Apple Commission lost a court battle in China to trademark "Washington" and its Chinese equivalent.
From the story:

The Washington Apple Commission, an industry association from America's northwestern state of Washington, applied between 2003 and 2004 to use "Washington" and its Chinese translation as its trademarks in advertisements and promotions for its apples, the Beijing News reported on Friday. But China's Trademark Office and the Trademark Appeal Board cut to the core and turned down the application as they were "the name of the U.S. capital and a place name known to the public", the paper said.


TK; I'm sure that the WAC wanted to protect its marketers from counterfeit apples labeled as Washington, which can be a problem in some Asian markets.