Hall-of-Famer, Michael Jordan is known by most in the United States, but now he is making headlines in the highest populated country in the world. [1] Jordan sought rights to his name in Chinese characters in a trademark case that made its way to China’s highest court. [2]
After four years in court, Jordan’s legal battle with local sportswear maker Qiaodan Sports Company, which he accused of “building a brand around the Mandarin transliteration of his name,” has come to an end. [3].“Qiaodan” is the Chinese rendering of “Jordan” and the company has over 6,000 stores throughout China. [4]
Jordan did not give Qiaodan permission to use his name, nor his famous jersey number “23” around which they built their business around in the “basketball-mad China,” causing Jordan to bring suit in 2012. [5]
Jordan claims that Qiaodan has damaged his legal rights to use his name, and sought that the court invalidate more than 60 trademarks in use by the company. [6]
Jordan’s legal battle ended with China’s top court granting him the right to his own name spelled with Chinese characters, overruling lower court decisions. [7] Jordan did not win all claims he sought in court, however. The Court found that they could not prevent Qiaodan from spelling Jordan’s Chinese name phonetically using the English alphabet. [8] The Court also found that there was not sufficient evidence to show that Chinese customers associate the Romanized system of the Chinese language with Jordan’s name. [9]
Still, large international companies and lawyers say this verdict is important in establishing the protection of intellectual property rights for foreign companies in the world’s second largest economy. [10]