A Billion-Dollar Brand Built on Someone Else's Name

"Qiaodan" (乔丹) is simply the standard Chinese transliteration of "Jordan." A Chinese company registered this name as a trademark and built a sportswear empire with over 5,700 retail stores across China. For years, Chinese consumers walked into "Qiaodan Sports" stores, bought products with a basketball-player silhouette logo, and many believed they were buying Michael Jordan's own brand.

They weren't. And Michael Jordan spent over 8 years in Chinese courts trying to get his own name back.

How It Happened

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Qiaodan Sports Co. Ltd. registered "Qiaodan" and variations as trademarks in China. The company grew into a major sportswear brand, going public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2011 with a market capitalization exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Michael Jordan didn't file a lawsuit until 2012 — more than a decade after the trademarks were registered. By then, Qiaodan Sports was an established brand with billions in revenue.

2012: Jordan filed suit in Chinese courts, arguing that "Qiaodan" was his well-known Chinese name and the registrations violated his prior rights.

2014–2015: Lower courts ruled against Jordan, holding that "Qiaodan" was just a common Chinese transliteration and didn't exclusively refer to him.

2016: China's Supreme People's Court revisited the case and ultimately ruled in Jordan's favor, recognizing that "Qiaodan" did refer to him and that the registrations had violated his prior name rights.

2020: The Supreme Court issued a final ruling confirming Jordan's rights to the Chinese characters "乔丹" — but the Latin-script "QIAODAN" trademark was left with the Chinese company.

Partial victory: Jordan won back the Chinese characters but the company still uses "QIAODAN" in Latin script. Even winning at the Supreme Court didn't fully reclaim the brand.

Key Lessons

  • Famous names get registered first in China. Even Michael Jordan's name was registered before he acted.
  • Litigation takes years, not months. 8 years of legal battles — and the outcome was only a partial victory.
  • Chinese transliterations matter. If consumers know your brand by a Chinese name, that name needs to be registered.
  • Delay compounds cost. Qiaodan Sports grew from a small company to a 10-billion-yuan enterprise while Jordan waited.
  • Court victories don't erase brand confusion. Even after winning, many Chinese consumers still associate "Qiaodan" with the local company.

How RTMCN Prevents This

At RTMCN, we register both the Latin-script and Chinese character versions of your brand name — along with common transliterations — in a single filing. Our trademark search identifies existing registrations before they become your problem.

Don't wait until a squatter builds a billion-dollar brand with your name. Register before you're famous in China.