Beijing - A Chinese anti-tobacco group is petitioning the country's trademark authority, asking it to ban the use of the name of the country's leadership compound as a cigarette brand, state media reported. Zhongnanhai, the name of the central leadership's quarters in Beijing, is also the name of one of China's most popular cigarette brands.

Anti-tobacco lobbyists say using the name on a cigarette pack can mislead consumers, and submitted a petition to the trademark authority on Tuesday, the state-run China Daily said.

"Buyers feel the cigarette brand is acknowledged by the central government, and see it as a symbol of high quality and authority," Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the Beijing-based non-governmental organization Think Tank Research Centre for Health Development was quoted as saying.

According to a legal expert also quoted in the paper, Zhongnanhai cigarettes violate China's Trademark Law, which stipulates that names of a central government office location cannot be used as brands.

Previous attempts by members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to ban the use of names like Chunghwa (China) and Zhongnanhai were unsuccessful, the report said.

China has more than 350 million smokers, and is world's largest market, with 2 trillion cigarettes sold each year, according to figures published by the official news agency Xinhua. (dpa)