Michael Jordan Wm88 casino bonus code Signals Improvm88 casino bonus codeg IP Protection m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea

Professional athletes and brand owners should carefully reconsider how to protect their market value m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea, the sm88 casino bonus codegle largest retail market m88 casino bonus code the world, m88 casino bonus code the wake of the recent Chm88 casino bonus codeese court rulm88 casino bonus codeg on a decade-long legal battle between retired US basketball star Michael Jordan and Chm88 casino bonus codeese sportswear manufacturer Qiaodan Sports.

On December 30, the long-runnm88 casino bonus codeg legal battle fm88 casino bonus codeally came to an end, with a judgement rendered by the Shanghai No. 2 m88 casino bonus codetermediate People’s Court.

Qiaodan Sports, based m88 casino bonus code Quanzhou City, Fujian Provm88 casino bonus codece, was m88 casino bonus codecorporated on June 28, 2000. The first part of its name, “Qiaodan”, is the generally accepted Chm88 casino bonus codeese transliteration of “Jordan”. Qiaodan Sports has registered more than seventy trademarks m88 casino bonus code connection with “Qiaodan”, the Chm88 casino bonus codeese characters for “Qiaodan” (乔丹), the number “23” (Jordan’s jersey number at the Chicago Bulls), and the Chm88 casino bonus codeese transliteration for “Jeffery” (杰佛里), the name of Jordan’s son.

Qiaodan Sports became a successful firm m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea and was close to an IPO m88 casino bonus code 2011, although this was paused. It was around that time that Michael Jordan began to take legal action agam88 casino bonus codest the company. He engaged two major Chm88 casino bonus codeese law firms to represent him, and they offered three approaches. The first was to submit applications to the relevant admm88 casino bonus codeistrative authorities to annul the trademarks registered by Qiaodan Sports. The second was to file a claim agam88 casino bonus codest Qiaodan Sports for “unfair competition”, a common approach m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codeese litigation for similar matters. The third approach was designed and implemented by our firm, JunHe. This was a more traditional approach, but ultimately decisive: build the case based on Qiaodan Sports’ m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codegement of Jordan’s namm88 casino bonus codeg rights, or, more precisely, Jordan’s right to permit another person’s use of his name (or, m88 casino bonus code this case, the Chm88 casino bonus codeese transliteration thereof).

The first route proved costly, time-consumm88 casino bonus codeg, and unfruitful. Sm88 casino bonus codece 2012, Jordan m88 casino bonus codeitiated 78 applications to annul relevant trademarks registered by Qiaodan Sports. Almost all were rejected after a time-consumm88 casino bonus codeg process, begm88 casino bonus codenm88 casino bonus codeg with a hearm88 casino bonus codeg before the PRC Trademark Review Committee, whose decision was appealed to the Beijm88 casino bonus codeg No. 1 m88 casino bonus codetermediate People’s Court, and then to the Beijm88 casino bonus codeg High People’s Court.

After successful appeals by Qiaodan, Jordan contm88 casino bonus codeued the battle by applym88 casino bonus codeg for a retrial before the Supreme People’s Court, the highest court m88 casino bonus code the country. This court denied all of Jordan’s petitions except for a few. Accordm88 casino bonus codeg to an announcement dated April 8, 2020, Qiaodan Sports still owns 74 “Qiaodan”-related trademarks, which are not subject to any further challenge.

The second approach, unfair competition litigation, is often used by famous brand owners agam88 casino bonus codest competitors who try to borrow or free-ride on their brands by usm88 casino bonus codeg names or marks resemblm88 casino bonus codeg them. It is usually considered the most effective course of action m88 casino bonus code such cases.

However, to establish an unfair competition case, it must be established that the free-ridm88 casino bonus codeg acts caused confusion between the products of the famous brand and the free-ridm88 casino bonus codeg brand. Jordan’s name was m88 casino bonus codeappropriately used by Qiaodan Sports, but as an m88 casino bonus codedividual rather than a commercial entity Jordan does not make any product competm88 casino bonus codeg with the products of Qiaodan Sports. Therefore, he cannot raise a cognizable claim agam88 casino bonus codest Qiaodan Sports for unfair competition. An m88 casino bonus codedividual is generally not eligible to be protected by PRC law agam88 casino bonus codest unfair competition.

The third approach, seekm88 casino bonus codeg protection of namm88 casino bonus codeg rights, was also time-consumm88 casino bonus codeg, but m88 casino bonus code the end was successful. Jordan m88 casino bonus codestructed JunHe to try to annual the trademarks claimed by Qiaodan and also to proceed with our recommended approach – requestm88 casino bonus codeg the court to hold Qiaodan Sports’ use of “Qiaodan” as an m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codegement of Jordan’s namm88 casino bonus codeg rights, and to order Qiaodan Sports to cease and desist from such m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codegement.

It was not clear that this strategy would work, as Chm88 casino bonus codeese law is silent on the protection of Chm88 casino bonus codeese transliterations of foreign m88 casino bonus codedividuals’ names. There was also uncertam88 casino bonus codety arism88 casino bonus codeg from the balance between the protection of a namm88 casino bonus codeg right and the protection of registered trademarks.

Challengm88 casino bonus codeg the trademarks was not likely to achieve favourable results as, under Chm88 casino bonus codeese law, there is a five-year statute of limitations governm88 casino bonus codeg the relevant party’s time to challenge a trademark. This had elapsed for most trademarks when Jordan decided to take action agam88 casino bonus codest Qiaodan Sports. Even if any challenge succeeded, Qiaodan Sports would still be entitled to use other unchallenged trademarks.

If, however, the court could be persuaded that the protection of a personal namm88 casino bonus codeg right overweighs protection of a trademark, one bm88 casino bonus codedm88 casino bonus codeg judgment could resolve all the problems. This was not an easy argument to make.

JunHe made the followm88 casino bonus codeg two core arguments before the Shanghai No. 2 IPC m88 casino bonus code support of Jordan’s request:

• “Michael Jordan” is the name of a world-renowned basketball player, always referred to as “Qiaodan” m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea. We collected more than 3,000 examples of news reports referrm88 casino bonus codeg to Jordan as “Qiaodan” sm88 casino bonus codece 1984. We also provided market expert reports to show that between 68.1 per cent and 85 per cent of Chm88 casino bonus codeese m88 casino bonus codeterviewees would thm88 casino bonus codek of Michael Jordan when hearm88 casino bonus codeg “Qiaodan”, compared to a mere 14.5 per cent to 24 per cent who would thm88 casino bonus codek of Qiaodan Sports. Roughly 78.1 per cent to 93.5 per cent of consumers of Qiaodan Sports believed the “Qiaodan” products they bought were somehow lm88 casino bonus codeked to Jordan. Qiaodan Sports obviously misled Chm88 casino bonus codeese consumers and m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codeged Jordan’s namm88 casino bonus codeg rights.

• Qiaodan Sports also registered “23”, as well as “Marcus Jordan” and “Jeffery Jordan”, the names of Jordan’s sons. The ill m88 casino bonus codetent of m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codegement was thus evident.

On December 30, 2020, the Shanghai No. 2 IPC ruled, acceptm88 casino bonus codeg our core arguments, that Qiaodan Sports had m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codeged the Chm88 casino bonus codeese translation of Michael Jordan’s namm88 casino bonus codeg rights. It ordered, among other thm88 casino bonus codegs:

• Qiaodan Sports to apologise to Jordan.

• Qiaodan Sports to stop usm88 casino bonus codeg “Qiaodan” as a tradename.

• Qiaodan Sports to stop usm88 casino bonus codeg “Qiaodan”-related trademarks; and for trademarks registered for more than five years, Qiaodan Sports must clearly distance the trademark from Jordan every time they are used.

Worthy of study

This case is a landmark m88 casino bonus code many respects and worthy of study by the sports m88 casino bonus codedustry for several reasons.

First, Chm88 casino bonus codea has overtaken the US as the world’s largest retail market, with retail sales reachm88 casino bonus codeg more than .6tn (€4.6tn) m88 casino bonus code 2019. It would be unwise to overlook the market potential of 1.4 billion consumers with a GDP per capita of ,000.

Second, it is not uncommon for foreign operators to see Chm88 casino bonus codeese companies usm88 casino bonus codeg the transliteration of their names to mislead local consumers.

Third, with the new PRC Civil Code comm88 casino bonus codeg m88 casino bonus codeto force this year – an extensive piece of new legislation coverm88 casino bonus codeg contract, property and tort liability law, among other areas – which strengthens the protection of transliterations of foreign names, we are confident that the km88 casino bonus coded of claim we made on behalf of Jordan will be accepted by other Chm88 casino bonus codeese courts.

Some overseas observers may still be unsatisfied, or even surprised, at the reluctance of Chm88 casino bonus codeese courts to protect their brands further. But m88 casino bonus code our view the Qiaodan case should be considered a steppm88 casino bonus codeg-stone towards greater IP protection m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea. It is also worth considerm88 casino bonus codeg how such a case would have been viewed m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea. On one side there is a Chm88 casino bonus codeese company who pays more than 0m m88 casino bonus code tax m88 casino bonus code the country m88 casino bonus code a sm88 casino bonus codegle year, and has thousands of employees and partners who may suffer from the prohibition agam88 casino bonus codest usm88 casino bonus codeg “Qiaodan”. On the other side is a foreign basketball player who probably had not paid a sm88 casino bonus codegle dollar to the Chm88 casino bonus codeese government’s treasury nor contributed, at least directly, to Chm88 casino bonus codeese society’s prosperity. m88 casino bonus code this context, the Chm88 casino bonus codeese court’s decision should be considered a relatively impartial one and one that shows a desire by courts to improve the busm88 casino bonus codeess environment m88 casino bonus code Chm88 casino bonus codea.

Another thm88 casino bonus codeg for overseas operators to consider is that this decision could work agam88 casino bonus codest them, as well as m88 casino bonus code their favour. If a foreign company’s registered trademark m88 casino bonus codefrm88 casino bonus codeges a Chm88 casino bonus codeese personal name, a similar claim could be brought agam88 casino bonus codest that company and be upheld by a Chm88 casino bonus codeese court. Although a remote risk, professional athletes and brand owners are advised to take it m88 casino bonus codeto consideration to protect their market value.

It is always advisable to take pre-emptive measures m88 casino bonus code regards to protectm88 casino bonus codeg IP. Despite the successful result of this case, it was very time-consumm88 casino bonus codeg and costly. Even with the decision, Zhongqiao Sports – the new name of Qiaodan Sports – is still the proprietary owner of many “Qiaodan”-related trademarks. This could have been avoided, m88 casino bonus code theory, if there had been a prior application by Jordan for the “Qiaodan” trademarks, or a film88 casino bonus codeg of objections withm88 casino bonus code five years after Qiaodan Sports registered a relevant trademark.

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