A flood of new trademark applications coming from China -- many of them believed to be fraudulent -- is swamping the U.S. system, making it harder for homegrown companies to register their products and defend themselves against intellectual property theft. The surge in filings has arisen in part due to government financial incentives offered to Chinese companies in recent years to seek trademark registrations in countries like the U.S. and U.K., as China seeks to bolster its reputation for in