Michael Jordon was the undisputed king of the basketball court for many years. Now he is playing in a much different court, and the home team has a home team advantage.  Pursuing a legal action in a Chinese court is never a slam dunk. It will be interesting to see if the court will determine that Mike “still has game”.  

April 30, 2013

Michael Jordan may have gotten married over the weekend, but yesterday was perhaps a bit less celebratory for the basketball legend, as it marked the first day of trial in a lawsuit he filed against Chinese company Qiaodan Sports Co.

Mr. Jordan took the company to court in a case testing China's personal trademark laws. According to Quartz, Qiaodan is a Mandarin transliteration of “Jordan,” and the company sells basketball shoes and jerseys sporting Mr. Jordan's jersey number, 23, throughout China. The company raked in 1.7 billion yuan, or $267 million, last year and had been planning a public listing in Shanghai, the website reports.

Jordan's lawsuit, which he filed in February 2012, claims that Qiaodan duped customers into thinking its products were authorized; it had also filed for trademark applications for “Jiefuli Qiaodan” and “Makusi Qiaodan”—the names of Mr. Jordan's sons, Jeffrey and Marcus.

“Qiaodan Sports has built a business off my Chinese name, the number 23, and even attempted to use the names of my children, without authorization,” Mr. Jordan said in a statement on his website. “I think Chinese consumers deserve to be protected from being misled, and they should know exactly what they are buying. I am taking this action to preserve the ownership of my name and my brand.”

Mr. Jordan's lawyers note that the player has been referred to as “Qiaodan” on Chinese TV since his first appearance in 1984.

The former Chicago Bull is seeking to halt the company's use of his name and is requesting $183,000 in compensation, according to Quartz. In a statement, Mr. Jordan said he will invest any monetary award in “growing the sport of basketball in China.”

Quartz reports that Qiaodan Sports, for its part, says it originally picked the name because it comes from a word that evokes “grass and trees of the south,” and that the name does not belong solely to Mr. Jordan because 4,600 Chinese citizens bear the name “Qiaodan.”

Qiaodan lawyers also pointed out that only Chinese citizens or foreign nationals living in China are protected under naming rights and that Mr. Jordan does not qualify, according to the International Business Times. Moreover, the Chinese company filed an $8 million countersuit against Mr. Jordan for holding up its IPO plans.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Qiaodan Sports first registered for the rights to use the name in 1997 and that the basketball star does not have a registered trademark for the translation in China. However, a provision in Chinese law prevents companies from freely using a famous person's name, even if the celebrity doesn't hold trademarks.

Other athletes have succeeded with similar cases in China. As the Journal notes, NBA player Yao Ming won in a case against Wuhan Yunhe Sharks Sportswear Co., which was using his name on its products. Chinese professional basketball player Yi Jianlian also was victorious over Fujian Yi Jianlian Sport Goods Co. in a case that found that an individual's "name right should be recognized as a prior right."

More information on Mr. Jordan's lawsuit can be found on TheRealJordan.com, a site his lawyers set up to address the case.