Jordan Sports
The Shanghai Second Intermediate Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of U.S. NBA star Michael Jordan in a lawsuit against two Chinese companies for infringement of his name rights, awarding Jordan 350,000 yuan in damages, while the defendant, Qiaodan Sports, was prohibited from using the Qiaodan trademark and was required to make a public apology to Qiaodan.
Over the years, the U.S. brand Jordan has filed several lawsuits against the Chinese company Qiaodan Sports for infringement, arguing that the latter had violated the rights of Jordan himself because the Chinese company had no relationship with the basketball star, but used the name to make money. However, Jordan Sports and Biren Trading, which sells its products, argued that “Jordan” is only a common surname in the United Kingdom and the United States, and therefore the plaintiff could not enjoy the right to the name in the sense of Chinese law.
The Shanghai Second Intermediate Court held that the defendant had violated the plaintiff’s name rights by registering Jordan’s number 23 jersey number and the Chinese translations of his two sons’ names, knowing that the player’s popularity was high. In addition, the court ruled that the seller should not sell the infringing products.
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