Jordan Sports has the right to defend its rights in 9 months without a hearing or another lawsuit

Jordan Sports

"Jordan Sports wants to counterclaim Jordan?" Yesterday, such a news spread. In the absence of a nine-month stalemate with Michael Jordan's lawsuit, Jordan Sports seems unable to sit still. The reporter received a positive reply from Jordan Sports yesterday: “We still hope to resolve the contradictions between the parties through negotiation and peace talks, but we will not give up the right to use legal means to safeguard our reputation.”

Case acceptance

Still not in court in September

On November 25 last year, Jordan Sports passed the initial application of the China Securities Regulatory Commission's Issuing and Approving Committee, and it is expected to become the first franchise sporting goods company to land on the domestic A-share market (all current sports brand-listed companies are listed in Hong Kong). Just then, the star Michael Jordan posted a video online on February 23 this year claiming that Jordan sports infringement, in the name of infringement of name rights in China, filed a lawsuit against Jordan Sports. After the two courts in Beijing and Shanghai were not accepted, the case was finally accepted by Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate Court in early March. However, since the admissibility of this case has been more than in September, there has been no official hearing.

"General litigation cases are usually reviewed within 6 months. The case is still pending. It may be related to the plaintiff's difficulty in winning the lawsuit from the legal point of view," said Lin Qiaocai, an attorney with Fujian Tianheng Law Firm.

Although the lawsuit has not yet been held, Jordan Sports is very injured. According to Jordan Sports' Prospectus, the original plan was to issue 112.5 million shares, accounting for 20% of the total share capital after the issuance, and the raised funds will be used for production R&D and channel construction, including: investment of 390 million yuan to expand the shoe production base, new Annually increased production of 9 million pairs of shoes; invested 120 million yuan to build R&D and design centers and Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangzhou R&D and design studios. However, due to protracted lawsuits, the company’s IPO plan was also suspended.

Jordan Sports does not give up legal means

“Since March this year, our company has been seeking solutions to solve the problem with Mr. Michael Jordan, but unfortunately, the fact is not like Michael Jordan's statement in his own statement “to protect his name”. "Jordan Sports said in an e-mail response to reporters that Jordan's practice of delaying the situation was actually a commercial blow to Jordan Sports.

Michael Jordan

For the counterclaim, Jordan Sports said: "We will not give up the right to defend our reputation with legal means. If our company initiates a lawsuit, then the prosecution of Mr. Michael Jordan's claim is that he has been involved in malicious lawsuits and infringed Jordan's reputation. And it caused a certain amount of economic loss to the company."

"If Mr. Michael Jordan really wants to solve the problem of the conflict between Jordan Sports and his name, according to commercial practice, he will first request Jordan Sports, and the negotiation will not be able to initiate another lawsuit. However, he rarely publicizes it to a number of media through public relations companies. Prosecution, and then go to the court to file a case, first deliberately delaying the submission of evidence after the filing of the case, and then delay the trial for a variety of reasons for up to 9 months.” Jordan Sports said that these practices give us reason to believe that his real purpose is not Clarifying the facts and defending their names is based on the premise of giving the public an impression that Jordan Sports is suspected of malicious infringement, and that it corrupts the goodwill that Jordan Sports has created for more than a decade.

At the same time, Jordan Sports pointed out: "China's trademark law has given Mr. Michael Jordan the protection channel for his name, but he gave up legitimate channels of relief and used litigation to deliberately damage the goodwill of Jordan Sports and prevent the listing of Jordan Sports. It has caused great harm to the company and its commercial intentions behind the scenes have been clearly revealed."

Counterclaims have legal basis

Lawyer

"The prosecution of Jordan Sports should be a confirmation of non-infringement litigation. This is a legal basis." For the counterclaim of Jordan Sports, Lin Qiaocai, an attorney with Fujian Tian Heng Law Firm, told reporters that the litigation that confirms non-infringement is mainly suitable for intellectual property rights. field. The 152th case in the "Civil Conditions Rule" implemented on April 1, 2008 was confirmed as a non-infringement dispute. The Supreme Court defined such dispute as "the person whose interest was affected by the specific intellectual property rights. The right holder filed a case for the defendant and requested to confirm that his actions did not infringe the intellectual property rights lawsuit.” At this point, it was confirmed that the non-infringement dispute was formally approved by the Supreme People’s Court as a third-level case.

For the counterclaim's odds, Lin Qiaocai said that the first thing to be solved is whether the counterclaim can be accepted. Jordan Sports filed a counterclaim after 9 months of prosecution. The statutory counterclaim period has expired, and it is more probable that a separate case will be filed.