Michael Jordan and 乔丹: local recognition matters

In a 2016 retrial concerning a disputed 乔丹 registration, the Supreme People's Court addressed Jordan's prior right in his personal name. The Court overturned the relevant decisions and required reconsideration. Its published reasoning examined the connection between the Chinese name and the person.

The practical planning question is broader than a literal translation: what name does the local public actually use for you? Collect Chinese media names, distributor terminology and existing social handles before deciding which name variants to review. This personal-name ruling is not a universal rule that every foreign wordmark owner automatically owns its transliterations.

Read the Supreme People's Court case summary.

Apple and iPad: check the owner and the territory

The iPad dispute in China ended with a USD 60 million settlement in 2012. WIPO-hosted training materials describe the dispute as a warning about acquiring marks and securing rights in China.

For a transaction involving a mark, build an ownership schedule: registration number, territory, registered owner, status and the document relied on to transfer it. Match that schedule to the contracting entities. A group-company relationship or a broadly worded commercial agreement should not replace a title check for the relevant registration.

See the WIPO-hosted presentation, case study 2.

New Balance and 新百伦: a Chinese marketing name needs its own review

In the New Balance/新百伦 appeal, the Guangdong Higher People's Court upheld infringement while reducing the damages award from RMB 98 million to RMB 5 million. The firm's published legal analysis describes the 2016 decision.

The planning lesson is to review a localized name before investing in its use. An English wordmark registration should not be assumed to settle every issue concerning different Chinese characters. Keep the chosen Chinese name, search findings, proposed goods and marketing instructions in the same approval process.

Read the Hogan Lovells appeal analysis.

Apply the lessons without copying the headlines

These disputes involved different rights, facts, proceedings and remedies. Their settlement figures and damages awards should not be treated as a tariff for resolving an ordinary filing problem. Nor is every earlier applicant necessarily a bad-faith registrant.

  • Identify the Chinese names associated with your brand.
  • Check ownership separately for each relevant territory.
  • Map actual goods, rather than only choosing broad class labels.
  • Separate creative naming from earlier-rights searching.
  • Keep evidence and written instructions before substantial launch spending.

Use the protection planning guide to turn these questions into a brief for your own business.