Chinese 'Trademark Maniac' sells trademarks pasted all over body

Deng Jiulin, the "Trademark Maniac," sells trademarks pasted all over body.(photo: Wuhan Evening News)

A middle-aged man in a white long sleeve shirt was pasted with labels for a variety of trademarks from neck to heel and walked around Wuhan Plaza holding a red flag on the afternoon of Sept. 27.

The price labels read, "To celebrate the National Day holiday, trademarks are available at discount prices – 'comrade brother' is priced at 1 million yuan and 'Li Xiang' at 80,000 yuan." The two people beside him carried digital video cameras to take close-up shots. His eccentric behavior attracted the attention of pedestrians.

It is known that the man is Deng Jiulin with the nickname "Trademark Maniac." He once spent more than 200,000 yuan to make rush registrations of more than 100 trademarks. Instead of bringing in a fortune for him as expected, the unsuccessful investments resulted in a divorce from his wife. Without other means to make a living, he had to make the move in order to catch public attention.

A trademark registration process from application to approval will take as long as two to three years. Deng did not receive the first registered trademark certificate until 2008. He has registered 82 trademarks and has yet to sell one.

To find a way out, Deng asked his trusted friend Mr. Ma, who works in the advertising industry, to design the "spectacle."

Ma's idea was to follow the path of an Internet celebrity who had become widely famous by making herself a public laughingstock. The plan is to first make himself noticeable in such a funny manner to catch the attention of the public, and then to leave messages online to catch the attention of Internet users.

Wuhan Evening News contributes to this story.

By People's Daily Online