JAC cars on display at an international auto show in Shanghai. Wu Changqing / China Daily Singapore company registers JAC's trademarks As it laid the groundwork for overseas expansion, carmaker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd (JAC) based in Hefei, Anhui province found its trademark had already been registered by a Singapore company.

JAC has formed a joint venture with Vietnamese partners in which the Chinese automaker holds a 51 percent stake, a move to tap the emerging market and then possibly expand to the rest of Southeast Asia.

But JAC found Best Union Pte Ltd, a Singaporean company, already filed an application with the Singapore Intellectual Property Office (IPOS) in August, 2009 to register the letters "JAC" and a device - a five-pointed star in a circle - as its trademark.

The application passed the three-month dispute period without objection and was granted in November, 2009.

The trademark's registration class permits it to be used for a variety of vehicles, according data on the IPOS website. 

                                                                                                    Source: China Daily