China’s Supreme People’s Court ruled in favor of Michael Jordan in a trademark battle with the Chinese company, Qiaodan Sports, overturning previous rulings against the athlete. The focal point of the litigation being the Chinese company’s use of the Chinese translation of Jordan’s name “Qiaodan”.
After an 8 year-long legal battle, which involved more than 80 lawsuits and counter lawsuits, the Supreme People’s Court of China said that the Chinese firm’s actions have displayed “malicious intent” by registering trademarks for Jordan’s Chinese name.
After years of losing in different courts in China, Jordan has expressed his satisfaction in the Supreme People’s Court’s decision saying (in a statement sent to Reuters), “I am happy that the Supreme People’s Court has recognized the right to protect my name through its ruling in the trademark cases.”
Although as Cissy Zhou of the South China Morning Post has pointed out that the Supreme People’s Court’s ruling was limited. While Jordan’s name is protected by the ruling, the other aspects of his identity are not. But for Michael Jordan, “Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me.”
(Please stay tuned for the litigation history of this case in our next article)
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