China’s top court has ruled that Michael Jordan has rights over the Chinese translation of his surname, cancelling several trademarks that a local sports company registered to market products from swimsuits to soy milk.
The former Chicago Bulls basketball star sued Qiaodan Sports in 2012, saying the company — whose logo is a silhouette of a leaping basketball player — built its business around his Chinese surname Qiaodan (pronounced chow-dan) without permission.
It is a rare victory for a foreign brand in China, where companies from Apple to Heineken have lost trademark battles. But observers said the verdict did not guarantee the immediate disappearance of the name from the company’s basketball jerseys.