Michael Jordan won a partial victory in his 10 trademark  administrative appeals involving the Qiaodan sporting goods company for the 乔丹 (Jordan) mark at the Supreme People’s court.  Here’s a Chinese summary of the case from Sina.com, and an article from the Associated Press. 

The trial of the case was heard on World IP Day (April 26, 2016), was presided by SPC Justice Madame Tao Kaiyuan, and was attended by former CAFC Chief Judge Randall Rader, as an observer.

The decision reportedly grants to Michael Jordan and Nike the picture mark and the Chinese characters associated with Qiaodan.  Jordan and Nike did not win the pinyin (Romanized) Qiaodan because that can be expressed in many different ways in Chinese ideographs. 

The Chinese press is treating this as a win for Jordan and NIKE.  The Qiaodan website was dismissive of the case, noting that it had won 65 prior cases involving the mark.  In a somewhat related matter, as of this morning (November 8), I found online platforms, including in the US,  offering Qiaodan products under the Qiaodan name.  I also did not find the Qiaodan name in pinyin registered at USPTO.

Michael Jordan, in a statement to Reuters noted that “I am happy that the Supreme People’s Court has recognized the right to protect my name through its ruling in the trademark cases,” and that “Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me.”  The Qiaodan Company had previously brought a suit against Michael Jordan for trademark law suits that delayed its plans for a public offering. 

My initial impression is that the case does show the willingness of the Chinese judiciary to tackle issues arising from bad faith registrations that can raise some of the more thorny issues, as they may involve business models based on rights that may not have been obtained in good faith.  This decision is one of several indications that China is seeking to heighten its continuing efforts to address squatting, in the face of a giant Chinese Trademark Office case load (over 3 million applications in 2016), a huge trademark docket at Beijing’s IP court, a commitment at this year’s JCCT to undertake further efforts to combat bad faith filings, recent efforts to improve the environment for entertainment law including some decisions favoring “merchandising rights”, and a recent positive decision for a mark involving President-elect Donald Trump.

Postscript Dec. 13, 2016: Here’s a presentation that an SAIC official recently gave at a public program at USPTO on how the agency is dealing with bad faith filings.

I hope to make a full copy of the SPC decision available on this website, once I receive a translation.

Note for non-native English speakers: “Milk and honey on the other side” in the title of this blog is drawn from the folk song/ spiritual “Michael Row  Your Boat Ashore”.