Jordan'S Sports And Air Jordan'S Grudge Finally Ended?

Recently, the Supreme People's Court of China awarded the trademark infringement case of Nike Jordan's Air Jordan brand to China's Jordan sports company (hereinafter referred to as "Jordan sports"). Jordan lost the sport, and the 25 class "Jordan + graphics" trademark was withdrawn. Subsequently, Jordan sports responded that the judgment would not affect the normal use of the existing trademark of the company, nor would it affect its normal operation. Basketball star Michael Jordan (Michael Jordan) and Air Jordan, which lasted for 8 years, have some justice in the law. But in terms of business strategy, it is not easy for them to win or lose.

In 1984, Michael Jordan was selected by the Chicago bulls at the FIBA draft convention, and began to show prominence in the basketball world. The predecessor of Jordan sports, the two commodity factory in Jinjiang, Fujian, was set up at this time. Air Jordan originally made shoes for basketball players made by Nike group for Jordan, and began selling to the public at the end of 1984. The following year, the Air Jordan brand of Nike group was established, but no trademark registration of "Jordan" was carried out in China.

In 2000, the two factory of chedai Creek commodity group changed its collective ownership to Jordan sporting goods Co., Ltd. in the same year, the company registered several trademarks such as "Jordan", "QIAODAN", "Qiao Dan", "Qiao Dan" and Michael Jordan two sons, including Geoffrey, Jordan and Markus Jordan. Jordan sports developed smoothly through the celebrity effect in China. Subsequently, a total of 777 trademarks, including "love Jordan", "chao chao Jordan", "Jeffrey Jordan", "Markus Jordan", "Jordan quality dryness", "Jordan kinetic energy technology", "Jordan children", "King Wang" and "Xiao", were registered.

According to its prospectus in 2011, Jordan sports earned 1 billion 158 million yuan, 2 billion 317 million yuan and 2 billion 927 million yuan respectively from 2008 to 2010. It also mentions the risk of trademarks in the special attention to risk factors: the publisher's trade name and its main product trademark "Jordan" is the same as the Chinese transliteration name of the famous former American professional basketball player, "Michael Jordan", the current issuer and Michael Jordan (i.e. Michael). Jordan, the author notes) there is no commercial relationship, nor has it taken advantage of its image for enterprise and product publicity. It is worth noting that the issuer enjoys the right of business to the enterprise name and the exclusive right to register the trademark, which is protected by Chinese law.

Soon, Jordan sports successfully held in 2011, originally planned to issue 112 million 500 thousand shares in the initial public offering, accounting for 20% of the total share capital after the issue, and intends to raise funds of 1 billion 64 million yuan. At this stage, Anta and Lining, the two largest sporting goods group in China, have not yet been listed. Jordan sports could have been the first sporting goods group to enter the A share market in China, but a series of "Jordan" trademark litigation started in 2012 failed to be listed.

Since 2012, Nike has filed many trademark objections and disputes administrative procedures against the "Jordan" trademark registered by Jordan sports. After that, Nike company inspired Jordan, a star, as a plaintiff, and filed a lawsuit against the 78 "Jordan" series registered by Jordan sports company. Jordan sports is protected by the general direction of Chinese law. Air Jordan has little effect in law.

According to sina sports report: in a trial, Jordan sports said that its icon was holding a table tennis bat, not basketball. In the use of the name "Jordan", Jordan sports has made various interpretations. In the first instance of 2012, the meaning of the explanation was "grass in the South"; in the 2014 trial, it was interpreted as "good meaning", "ordinary meaning, good will". In the hearing of 2015, Jordan sports again explained that "in the middle of 1990s, when they were village enterprises, they had found the local Trademark Office in Jinjiang to name them, including the name, and registered."

In the continuous appeal and rejection, the time has arrived in 2016, and the trademark dispute case is handed over to the Supreme People's court for trial. The court finally declared that among the 78 trademarks registered by Jordan, only 3 cases involving the name "Jordan" were confirmed to be contrary to the trademark law. Illegal trademarks are the defensive uses of other commodities around the world. The main trademarks used by Jordan sports in the main business are basically not affected, and Jordan sports began to restart the listing plan.

In a court hearing, Jordan sports indicated that its icons were held in table tennis racket, not basketball, star Jordan's lawyer compared with Jordan sports and star Michael Jordan characters pictures: micro-blog:

After that, the Jordan sports store under the line has begun to weaken the Chinese word "Jordan" in the trademark. However, its brand online Tmall, Jingdong and other Jordan sporting goods stores, official micro-blog and WeChat still use the "Jordan" Chinese character propaganda head.

In 2017, Jordan sports even raised star Jordan. This year, Jordan sports became the official partner of the Thirteenth National Games, providing equipment support for the organizing committee, and investing more than 80 million of the funds. This attracted the attention of Jordan, the authorized agent of the ball star, and the news to the Organizing Committee of the National Games. The 3 trademarks were withdrawn before Jordan's sports. He hoped the organizing committee would carefully determine whether the partners were legitimate operated companies. Jordan sports for this reason for malicious libel, a piece of paper to the star and Fang Da law firm to court, demanding an apology and compensation 1 million 100 thousand yuan.

In April 2019, the listing of Jordan sports on the main board of the Shanghai stock exchange again passed the first instance and is now awaiting approval. The market had expected the company to enter the A share market in 2020. In October of the same year, the Supreme People's Court concluded Jordan's sports trademark dispute and decided that its trademark did not damage Michael Jordan's right of portrait. The trademark does not embody Jordan's personal characteristics and is not identifiable. Therefore, the judgment does not constitute a damage to the right of portrait.

According to the final judgment, China news network joint digital 100 market research company launched an online survey, which served as a powerful weapon for the final judgment for the star Jordan. The survey results overthrew the trademark Commission and the court of first instance and the court of second instance about the erroneous identification of "the two sides have formed their own consumer groups and market awareness" respectively.

Finally, in the last few days, the Supreme People's court ruled that Jordan sports knew that star Michael Jordan had long and wide popularity in China, and still used the "Jordan" to apply for the registration of the controversial trademark, which could easily lead to a specific connection between the public concerned that the trademark marked the controversial trademark and the retrial applicant had the endorsement, permission, and so on, which damaged the prior name of the retrial applicant. Name right. Therefore, the trademark should be revoked, and the State Intellectual Property Office should be re judged on the controversial trademark.

This long drawn out dispute was chosen in the guiding case of the supreme law, which sounds complex but simple is whether "Jordan" is equal to the discussion of Jordan in Chinese law. In January this year, the supreme law made it clear that the Chinese translations of foreign natural persons met the requirements and could be protected according to law.

After eight years, star Jordan and Air Jodran finally removed Jordan sports 25 class "Jordan + graphics" trademark. Jordan sports said that the trademark is Jordan's sports defensive trademark, has no influence on Jordan's sports operation, but Air Jordan and Jordan himself have all fallen into the important node of Jordan sports. In 2012, because the lawsuit failed to go public, today's ruling will continue to affect the second listing plan of Jordan sports, and the public opinion and litigation costs generated by the long course of cases have affected the operation and reputation of both sides.

Previously, Lin Youxun, senior director of Jordan sports brand, told the interface news that "Future Ltd should take a professional and regularized brand management road." "In October last year, Jordan sports invited Tim Coppens to cooperate with China in the international fashion week. But the brand will still appeal on trademark decisions. It seems that the case is still possible. The direction of the brand's future operation needs to be observed.

At the same time, since 2017, the Air Jordan brand has accelerated the pace of its opening in China. In August last year, it even opened a new store just 10 kilometers away from Jordan sports headquarters in Xiamen. In its 2019 fiscal year, the Air Jordan brand gained a double-digit revenue growth in China. At the same time, brands such as Lining and Anta, which had started late than Jordan sports, have been listed on the market. The former achieved 13 billion 870 million yuan in revenue last year, while the latter had a revenue of 33 billion 930 million yuan last year.