Jordan VS "Jordan" A Muddle?

In Jordan sports official Sina micro-blog and Jordan sports official website repeatedly issued a statement, insisted that "Jordan" refers to not Michael Jordan himself, the company did not infringe Michael Jordan's rights and interests.

The two sides released the mailbox and asked the media to inquire about the incident.

"It's not illegal, but it's against business ethics."

As a general public comment on the incident.

But behind the case, people could not help but pinch a cold sweat for Jordan's "brand name" national brand.

Jordan sports's annual sales of 3 billion yuan, presumably benefited from the name "Jordan" at the beginning, but at this stage, the role is not big, but on the contrary, it has become a big burden.

But as far as the trend of the case is concerned, reconciliation is a general direction, and public opinion seems to be widely recognized by legal experts.

No matter how long the case is going to be heard and how extensive it is, consumers really realize that "Jordan" is not Jordan.

News playback

In February 23rd, basketball superstar Michael Jordan said he had filed a lawsuit against a Chinese court.

In March 5th, Jordan sports received the notice of responding to the second middle court of Shanghai.

Jordan sports has full confidence in safeguarding his legitimate rights and believes that the court will make a fair decision in accordance with the law.

Before the company repeatedly said that the company did not deliberately use the name of Michael Jordan (Michael Jordan), Jordan sports to "Jordan" and other registered trademarks have exclusive rights, protected by the law of our country.

In March 6th, the people's Court of the second intermediate people's Court of Shanghai announced that micro-blog had accepted the case of plaintiff Michael Jordan v. defendant Jordan sports Limited by Share Ltd and Shanghai Bai Ren Trading Co., Ltd..

This is the first time that a Chinese court has formally accepted the case.

They said

1, Michael Jordan

Unfortunately, one China

Everyone has the right to use his name and ownership. China respects the right of personal name. This is not a matter of money. It is about the principles, maintaining my right to name and status. There is a special cohesive force between Chinese fans and me. When I work for the bulls, they will go to Chicago to cheer on me. When I come to China, wherever I go, fans are warmly welcome, so I have to make sure that they will not be misled by the Chinese company.

2. Jordan Sports

Jordan sports's use of Jordan's trademark in China is a legal procedure: in 1991, "Jordan" was registered first; in 1997, "Jordan Qiaodan" was registered, and a graphic trademark of baseball player's image was added; in 1999, a trademark of basketball player's logo was registered; in 2000, Jordan and basketball player's figure were applied together for registration.

In addition, over the past 12 years, Jordan sports has registered more than 100 defensive trademarks that have not been used.

Among them, the "Jordan" graphic and Chinese character trademarks were respectively recognized as "well-known trademarks in China" by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in 2005 and 2009 respectively.

Some consumers may associate Jordan sports and their products with Michael Jordan, resulting in misunderstanding or confusion. However, the company does not have any commercial cooperation with Michael Jordan, nor has it used its image to publicize its products and products.

3. Trademark Review and Adjudication Board

(as early as 2002, Nike and Air Jordan, one of the brand names of basketball players co founded by Michael Jordan, challenged 8 defensive trademarks in the announcement stage after the initial verification of Jordan's trademark.

However, their objections were rejected by the trademark office.

Nike's subsequent requests for retrial were dismissed by the business jury.

It can be seen that according to Chinese law, the exclusive right of registered trademark of Jordan sports is not recognized as a violation of the well-known trademark of others.

)

The reason for rejecting Nike is: "it is not enough to prove that the trademark" MICHAEL JORDAN "has become a well-known trademark widely known and enjoyed a high reputation in China for clothing and other commodities before the application for registration of objection trademark. It is considered that Jordan has a certain reputation only in the field of basketball movement.

But "Jordan" is a common surname in Britain and America. In addition to basketball, Jordan has no unique correspondence with Michael Jordan.

The popularity of athletes can not be equal to the popularity of "MICHAEL JORDAN" brand in clothing, shoes and hat products.

4. Ding Jinkun lawyer of Da Bang law firm.

China's general principles of civil law and tort liability law protect the right of name and prohibit others from interfering, embezzlement and counterfeiting.

But the law is regional, usually the object of legal protection is domestic citizens in their own territory. For foreigners who are not in their own territory, unless they have special provisions, they are not protected. Therefore, Jordan's right to sue for name infringement is lacking in legal basis.

5. Li Shunde, deputy director of the intellectual property center of the Chinese Academy of social sciences.

The fundamental purpose of trademark registration is to prevent misleading consumers from the same categories of goods from different sources in the market. Therefore, if trademarks cause confusion and misleading to consumers, there will be problems.

Jordan's trademark also includes a basketball player's pattern. In addition, he also registered the Chinese plation of Jordan's two sons, which in itself is suspicious.

In my opinion, although the registration process of Jordan's trademark is lawful, it has caused confusion results in the course of its use, violating the principle of good faith and forming unfair competition.

6. Lawyer Yan Yiming of Shanghai law firm Yan Yiming.

Jordan sports does not exist trademark infringement, it can only be considered that this is not a commercial moral behavior, because according to the existing materials, Jordan sports trademark is registered in China.

According to the contents of Jordan sports prospectus, Jordan sports has obtained 131 registered trademarks in China, all of which have obtained the trademark registration certificate of these registered trademarks and enjoy the exclusive rights of such registered trademarks.

Generally speaking, the principle of prior registration of trademarks is an internationally accepted practice.

According to the ninth provision of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, "the trademark that applies for registration should have significant characteristics, which is easy to identify, and must not conflict with the legitimate rights of others."

Therefore, Jordan sports does have the exclusive right to "Jordan" trademark legally registered trademark.

However, the well-known trademark rights holders who have not registered in China also have the right to disagree.

According to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, it is prohibited to use the well-known trademarks to copy, imitate or plate well-known trademarks of others, but there are also certain standards. According to the fourteenth provision of the act, the criteria for identifying well-known trademarks should be considered as follows: (1) the degree of awareness of the relevant public; (two) the duration of the use of the trademark; (three) the duration, extent and geographical scope of any publicity work of the trademark; (four) the trademark as a record of the protection of well-known trademarks; and (five) other factors that are well-known for the trade mark.

At the same time, this identification needs to be determined by the specialized agencies of the state. According to the fifth provision of the regulations on the implementation of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, "according to the provisions of the trademark law and this regulation, when disputes arise in the process of trademark registration and trademark review, the parties concerned believe that their trademark constitutes a well-known trademark. They may request the trademark office or the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to make a well-known trademark, and reject the trademark registration application contrary to the thirteenth provision of the trademark law or cancel the trademark registration in violation of the thirteenth article of the Trademark Law.

When applying for an application, the parties concerned shall submit evidential materials whose trademarks constitute well-known trademarks.

According to the request of the parties, the Trademark Office and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board shall, on the basis of finding out the facts, determine whether their trademarks constitute well-known trademarks in accordance with the provisions of the fourteenth article of the trademark law.

According to the earlier case of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board dealing with the Jordan trademark objection case of Nike company, it can be judged that according to the current law, the trademark of Jordan sports is legally used in China's "Jordan" trademark.

It can only be considered that they bind the Chinese plation of an international celebrity to do publicity, and then take advantage of the trademark law prior registration principle to register for trademark exclusive right.

How much of this way people will have association with basketball superstar Jordan and Jordan sports, which is against business ethics.

But in any case, for a listed company that wants to really expand its national brand, it should focus on the development of its own corporate culture instead of relying on the "wire line" of the law, and the use of ambiguous trademarks to attract consumers.

It can be said that today, regardless of the success or failure of this lawsuit, it is actually the use of the "Jordan" trademark of Jordan sports company, and the market will definitely deduct its business image.