Michael Jordan Case Highlights IP Protection
By Paul Welitzkin in New York (China Daily USA)
March 18, 2016 China Daily - When considering international expansion, a company should take moves to protect its brand, name and trade secrets before embarking overseas, according to participants in a seminar at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York.
Helen Su of Alston & Bird LLP told the audience Wednesday night to consider the case of basketball icon Michael Jordan when weighing the importance of intellectual property (IP) protection.
When athletic apparel company Nike Inc expanded the Air Jordan brand to China in the 1990s, it registered only the English version of the famous name belonging to the ex-NBA star.
Later, a family-owned shoe company in China registered "Qiaodan," the Chinese transliteration of Jordan.
Since then, Qiaodan Sports has registered dozens of other trademarks that seem related to Michael Jordan, including its own silhouette logo.