Translation and Transliteration in Chinese Trademarks

According to Bo Yu at the About Intellectual Property Blog, there are basically three ways to choose a Chinese trademark, by translation (meaning), by transliteration (sound), or a mix of the two (sound+meaning):

Microsoft’s Chinese name is a good example of translation. It is pronounced "Wei Ruan", which sounds totally different from the English word “Microsoft,” but those two Chinese characters together mean micro soft.

DELL’s Chinese name "Dai Er" is an exact transliteration, since there it has no meaning as a Chinese sir name. Foreign companies need to pay close attention when choosing Chinese transliterations becuase different Chinese words with the same pronunciation may have different meanings.

Most foreign companies choosing a Chinese trademark mix translation with transliteration. For example, Bloomberg’s Chinese mark is pronunced “Peng Bo,” sounding somewhat similar to Bloomberg and meaning "wide coverage," which is very suitable for Bloomberg's product and service.