Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of China again after legal victory
Not to be that blogger who opens a post with a quote from The Wire, but as the dedicated businessman Marlo Stanfield once said: "My name is my name!"
That's the gist of a drawn-out court case Michael Jordan just won in China against a company accused of ripping off his name and logo.
Jordan had been locked in a legal dispute with a sportswear company called Qiaodan Sports since 2012, according to the Associated Press. But China's highest court ruled in Jordan's favor on Thursday.
Qiaodan is a Chinese company whose Mandarin name translates to "Jordan" in English. Its logo also bears more than a passing resemblance to the now iconic "Jumpman" logo Nike introduced in 1988.
Thursday's ruling by the Supreme People's Court overturns two previous rulings by lower-level Beijing courts that said Jordan did not have sufficient evidence to bar Qiaodan from using his name and image.
"Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me. Nothing is more important than protecting your own name, and today's decision shows the importance of that principle," Jordan said in a statement released after Thursday's ruling.
The ruling reportedly bars Qiaodan from using its name with the two Chinese characters that translate to "Jordan" -- but not from using its name with the Roman alphabet spelling.
Still, American companies don't always fare so well in Chinese courts when seeking to protect their trademarks. Apple, for example, lost a ruling earlier this year in which it sought to bar a maker of handbags and leather goods from using the term "iPhone."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
