Recently, Fangda Partners successfully represented American basketball star Michael Jordan in a retrial judgment rendered by the Supreme People’s Court of P.R.C. (SPC).

The SPC held that ZHONGQIAO SPORTS, being fully aware of Michael Jordan’s long-standing and widespread popularity in China, still applied for the registration of the disputed trademark using the Chinese character "Jordan" (Qiaodan), which infringed upon Michael Jordan’s prior right to his name. The court ruled to revoke the first-instance and second-instance judgments, and at the same time, revoke the No. 6020578 "Jordan + Device" trademark registered by ZHONGQIAO SPORTS on Class 25 goods such as clothing, shoes, hats and socks.

This marks the third ruling made by the SPC on the series of Jordan-related cases in recent years: In 2016, the SPC ruled to confirm Michael Jordan’s rights to the Chinese character "Jordan" (Qiaodan), but not to the spell "QIAODAN".In 2019, the SPC held that Michael Jordan does not enjoy the right of portrait in the silhouette contained in the trademark.

Lawyers Tian Tian and Qi Fang, partners of Fangda Partners, represented the case.