Highest court rules Michael Jordan owns the right to his name in Chinese characters
BEIJING — China’s highest court ruled largely in favor of former basketball star Michael Jordan on Thursday in a closely watched trademark case.
The decision held that Jordan owns the legal rights to the Chinese characters of the equivalent of his name, overturning a lower-court ruling. The four-year trademark dispute drew attention for the precedent it could set for foreign companies pursuing similar cases in China.
The lawsuit pitted Jordan against Qiaodan Sports Co., which he accused of using the Mandarin transliteration of his name on its goods. The verdict, from the Supreme People’s Court, reversed previous rulings by lower courts in Beijing that said Qiaodan, based in southern Fujian province, could use the Chinese characters for Jordan to sell its goods.
“I am happy that the Supreme People’s Court has recognized the right to protect my name through its ruling in the trademark cases,” Jordan, who’s also CEO of Nike’s Brand Jordan Division, said in an emailed statement after the ruling. “Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me.”
The high court, however, said there was not sufficient evidence to show that Chinese consumers associated the Pinyin version — the Romanized system of the Chinese language — with Jordan’s name.
The ruling could have broad implications for other foreign companies and celebrities, who have long complained of trademark infringement in China. Many Western companies, like Apple and Starbucks, and celebrities, including President-elect Donald Trump, have been caught up in long legal battles over the right to use their names in China.
In May, a Chinese company won the right to sell its leather goods under the iPhone trademark after years of legal wrangling with Apple. New Balance paid $16 million in damages for what a court said was the illegal use of the Chinese name for the company, which a Chinese person had trademarked.
The ruling, announced in a live broadcast online by the Supreme People’s Court, may reflect a renewed determination by Beijing to tackle the country’s rampant trademark infringement problem.