Recently, the dispute over the "Qiaodan trademark" between Zhongqiao Sports and Nike has made new progress, and the Beijing Municipal High Court rejected the appeal request of Zhongqiao Company to revoke the original judgment in the second instance.
The previous first-instance judgment supported the decision of the State Intellectual Property Office to invalidate the "Qiaodan QIAODAN" trademark registered by Zhongqiao Company in the 43rd class of restaurants and coffee categories.
The State Intellectual Property Office held that the use of the disputed trademark "Qiaodan" in Class 43 restaurants, cafes and other services does not belong to the same category as the goods used by Nike, but Michael Jordan has a high reputation as a public figure.
Zhongqiao Sports' unauthorized application for registration of the disputed trademark can easily make the public believe that there is a specific connection with Michael Jordan, thus improperly exploiting Michael Jordan's reputation and infringing on Michael Jordan's right to a name.
The verdict is settled, and whether Or not Zhongqiao sportswear is accepted. However, for Zhongqiao Sports, the blow suffered by the trademark dispute is even more painful than this.
Before 2021, Zhongqiao Sports has always been called Qiaodan Sports, which is a relatively well-known domestic sports brand.
Since 2000, the company has registered a number of trademarks with the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for "Jordan", "QIAODAN" and Michael Jordan's son's name "Jeffrey Jordan" and "Marcus Jordan".
In the 10 years of rapid development, Qiaodan Sports has rapidly risen and gained a place in domestic sports brands, and is even expected to be able to IPO, but eventually had to be stranded due to intellectual property disputes.
As early as 2002, Nike filed an opposition to the Jordan trademark, but the trademark opposition was eventually rejected. In 2012, Michael Jordan filed a lawsuit against Jordan Sports for the "Jordan" series of trademarks.
After 8 years of "litigation long run", at the end of 2020, the name rights dispute between Jordan Sports and Michael Jordan finally came to an end ↓↓↓
Qiaodan Sports lost the lawsuit, and Qiaodan Sports wanted to stop the "Qiaodan" trade name and the "Qiaodan" trademark involved, and compensate the plaintiff for a total of 350,000 yuan.
So in the middle of January 2021, Qiaodan Sports changed to Zhongqiao Sports, and since then, there is no longer a brand of "Qiaodan Sports" in China.
The name change means that the road to listing has changed from within reach to no end. The previous brand effect of Zhongqiao Sports has all failed, and all the previous hard work is only to make a wedding dress for Qiaodan Sports, without the trademark, everything will start again!
Zhongqiao Sports planted a big heel on the trademark and paid a painful price, which also taught a lesson to the majority of enterprises: trademarks are very important to enterprises, they must be registered as soon as possible, and it is really not advisable to rub the famous brand.
General trademarks follow the principle of "registration first", who registers first, who uses first, therefore, we should register the trademark before registering the company, if we are in a hurry to use the trademark, it can also be obtained by trademark transfer.
Whether it is trademark registration, or trademark transfer, it is best to find a professional service agency to help handle, blind registration or purchase, it is easy to have flaws, delay time not to say, but also affect the company's subsequent development, more than worth the loss!