Ivanka Trump's brand ramped up China trademark work in 2016

SHANGHAI (AP) — Ivanka Trump's brand intensified its work in China as her father closed in on the Republican nomination for U.S. president, with her company applying for nearly twice as many trademarks in a five-month span as it had in the preceding eight years.

Three of the 2016 applications were granted preliminary approval on April 6, the same day Ivanka Trump dined with China's President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, the Associated Press revealed this week in an article that documented how Ivanka Trump's brand has continued to expand even as she builds a new political career in her father's administration.

Politically sensitive decisions on, for example, the intellectual property of the family of the U.S. president, may well have been subject to high-level political review.

Eisen is part of a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, against President Trump for alleged violations of the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, involving, among other things, his China trademarks.

Eisen argues that if President Trump or his daughter received special treatment from China in winning intellectual property protection, it would be a violation of the Constitution, which bars federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments unless approved by Congress.

After the election, Ivanka's name took on new commercial glamour for Chinese copycats who filed hundreds of applications for trademarks on variations of Ivanka Trump's name in English and Mandarin, covering an unlikely array of goods, including toothpaste, diapers, diet pills and biscuits.

The ramp-up in China trademark filings last year by Ivanka Trump's brand cover the use of her name in both English and Mandarin for a wide range of things including jewelry, clothing, shoes, spa and beauty services, perfume, cosmetics, retailing and leather bags.