Focus On Shoe Market Two "Jordan" Whether To Enter The Conciliation Period?

As report goes, Us NBA superstar Michael Jordan (MICHAEL JORDAN) recently issued a statement that China's Jordan sports Limited by Share Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Jordan sports") suspected of violating its right to name and has filed a lawsuit with the Chinese court. Recently, the second intermediate people's Court of Shanghai has formally accepted the case. It is reported that Jordan sports in 2011 11 menstruation Shanghai stock exchange motherboard issued by the trial committee passed the audit, intends to issue 112 million 500 thousand shares, raise funds 1 billion 60 million yuan. We are waiting for the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (SFC).

After the meeting, it will face major intellectual property litigation. Jordan Sports In the face of the crisis of listing, in order to resolve the crisis, will Jordan sports reach a compromise with Michael Jordan? This article will explore the relevant possibilities.

First of all, what is reconciliation? There are three logical results in this case. One is that Michael Jordan authorizes Jordan to use Jordan brand. Two is Jordan's abandonment of the Jordan brand. The three is Jordan's continued use of the Jordan brand without the authorization of Michael Jordan. Of the three results, the latter two must be judged by the court, only in the first case, because only the parties have compromised. We believe that the possibility of reconciliation in this case is very small.

First, Jordan has always been dominant in the previous legal game.

Jordan has always been dominant in the legal game before, and may not be authorized to buy Michael Jordan's authorization. According to Jordan sports news spokesman, from 2002 and 2007, Nike company, which had long-term cooperation with Michael Jordan, had challenged and reexamined the eight trademarks registered by Jordan sports, but they were rejected. In 2005 and 2009, the Chinese "Jordan" and the graphic trademarks were identified as "well-known trademarks in China" by SAIC. At the same time, the trademark law stipulates that even if a trademark is registered, the obligee should file a cancellation procedure within 5 years. Jordan made trademark registration on twenty-fifth categories of clothing, shoes and other products in January 2007, and Michael Jordan's prosecution time is 2-3 months this year, which has exceeded 5 years.

Second, Michael Jordan is constrained by the contract with Nike.

Even if Jordan agrees to spend money on authorization, even if the cost of authorization is high, it is unlikely that Michael Jordan will empower him. First of all, it is not a pleasant thing to authorize a person who infringed his or her name. More importantly, Michael Jordan also has a long history of cooperation with Nike's rival Nike. Nike and CONVERSE bought by them have tried to stop Jordan's trademark registration, indicating that they value the commercial value of Jordan brand. Therefore, Michael Jordan's authorization to Nike's competitors may be restricted by the contract of Jordan and Nike company.

Third, Michael Jordan is not entirely hopeless.

Although according to the foregoing, Jordan has gone beyond the "Prosecution". Trademark law It is stipulated that the period of trademark revocation is 5 years. Jordan still has the potential to succeed in safeguarding his rights. Here I quote the viewpoint of our colleague, Si Weijiang, lawyer: "the answer to a number of questions about the civil disputes cases involving the trial of registered trademarks, the name of enterprises and the conflict of first priority" is stipulated in the Supreme Court of China. Article 1 provides that the lawsuit filed by the plaintiff on the basis of the original rights of the plaintiff, such as the words, images and other rights that infringe his copyright, design patent, and enterprise name, shall be in accordance with the one hundred and eight provision of the civil procedure law, and the people's court shall accept it. Therefore, Michael Jordan's litigation is in line with our legal provisions and the court can handle it directly.

Once the court decides that Jordan's trademark will be violated by Jordan and its trademark, the trademark will be revoked. However, it is unclear whether the plaintiff sued whether the name of Jordan company infringed on his right to name. If there is no picture of a ball player, if a Chinese transliteration is not played, the possibility of infringement will be smaller. However, because the trademark used by Jordan company is infringed, the use of its trademark will also have the same intention of infringement, and objectively, it may still cause confusion, and there may also be certain infringement. "

Fourth, Jordan company may not afford to sign Michael Jordan's contract fees.

Although China's sports brands have signed NBA superstars in recent years, for example, Li Ning Co has signed shark O'neal, but the cost of signing NBA superstars is very high. The competition in China's sports brand market is fierce and the profit margin is not high. Jordan is not a first-rate brand. Its products sell far lower than those of competitors such as Lining and Anta. Therefore, it is doubtful whether they have the financial resources to sign Michael Jordan.

Finally, although Jordan sports has passed the trial, it is now being approved by the SFC. However, this lawsuit may have an impact on its final listing, because the situation described in the prospectus of Jordan sports has changed. Its previous Prospectus has the following statement: "the issuer and Michael Jordan do not have any commercial cooperation relationship, nor have they used their image to carry out enterprise or product publicity. The issuer's trade name and registered trademark do not infringe the name or other rights of Michael Jordan, and there is no dispute and potential dispute between the issuer and Michael Jordan. " Now Michael Jordan's litigation will overturn the above statement. Meanwhile, because Jordan's most valuable brand will be greatly affected by the litigation result, its recent listing should be very difficult.