Michael ‘dunked’ yet again

Basketball is   a sport played by all. It is a very popular sport all over the world and perhaps the most famous basketball player known to the world is Michael Jordan. Over the years he has played brilliantly and is owner of Air Jordan by Nike. Recently he won the court  case against a Chinese company ‘QIAODAN’ which was using the Chinese version of his name and his ‘23’ jersey without his knowledge. They were trying to gain profit by using his goodwill. Recently China’s Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Jordan and he has partially won the case he had filed in 2012. The claim was with regard to the use of the Chinese version of his name along with    silhouette of  the logo of ‘jumpman’ used by Nike for ‘Air Jordan’ a line of sports shoes owned by him.

The Supreme Court of China has allowed the Chinese company to use a phonetically similar version but not the same . It has been allowed to use the roman version namely, ’Chee- ow-dahn’. It is yet to hear a naming rights case yet. It is however a partial victory for Jordan. The logo was used to gain goodwill and hence misuse of his silhouette and the logo along with his Chinese name were all serious offences. The court finally said that ‘QIAODAN’ had violated trade mark laws and the rights to manufacture such goods need to be revoked. Jordan pleaded for absolute revocation.