Eight Years Of Trademark Dispute, IPO Nail Maker Jordan Sports Breakthrough?

In the latest disclosure of the SFC's official website, "the application of the Shanghai Stock Exchange motherboard for the IPO basic information table", Jordan sports Limited by Share Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Jordan sports") audit status is still stuck in the "passed the trial meeting", this state has been maintained for nearly eight years, recently, with the end of a lawsuit, Jordan sports this embarrassing situation is expected to be broken.

In mid October, the Supreme People's Court concluded the trademark dispute case of Jordan sports company and ruled that its trademark did not damage Jordan's portrait right. That means eight years of grudges between Jordan sports and NBA superstar Michael Jordan have come to an end.

Can Jordan sports, which won the lawsuit and removed the major litigation obstacles, resume the leading edge of the first meeting in 2011 and successfully get on the train of A-share listing?

Eight years' grievances of "Jordan" and "Jordan"

"Jordan sports has won the lawsuit now. The previous obstacles to listing have been eliminated, but the information updated to the latest quarter needs to be supplemented. If there are no new obstacles (such as a sharp decline in performance, new legal issues, etc.) during the review period, it will only take a long time to get approval." On November 11, a secretary of the board of directors of a listed company in Shanghai analyzed this to the 21st century economic reporter.

Jordan sports was developed by the two commodities factory in Jinjiang, Fujian Province, which was founded in 1984. It was registered as "danqiao" trademark in 1991. In 2000, it was renamed "Jinjiang Jinjiang sporting goods Co., Ltd.".

When Jordan sports changed its name, Michael Jordan, nicknamed "flying man", won six NBA championship rings and became one of the most influential players in basketball.

For Jordan sports, the registration of "Jordan" series of trademarks, whether there is the suspicion of playing the famous edge ball, is unknown, but after renamed its popularity and performance growth, it is obvious.

According to the prospectus in 2011, from 2008 to January June 2011, Jordan sports achieved revenue of RMB 1.158 billion, RMB 2.316 billion, RMB 2.927 billion and RMB 1.7 billion respectively, with corresponding net profits of RMB 130 million, RMB 302 million, RMB 518 million and RMB 285 million respectively.

In 2010, Jordan sports ranked sixth among domestic sports brands with a sales revenue of 2.927 billion yuan, ranking behind Li Ning, Anta, Tebu, 361du and peak.

On November 25, 2011, at the 263rd meeting of the development and Audit Committee of the CSRC in 2011, Jordan sports was first launched. It is planned to issue 113 million shares and raise 1.064 billion yuan for the expansion of production base and the construction of Direct stores and other projects.

If successful listing, Jordan sports will lead the "A shares sports brand first share" aura.

However, at this critical point, in February 2012, "flying man" Jordan applied to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for the cancellation of "Jordan", "Qiaodan" and other trademarks registered by Jordan sports in multiple commodity categories on the grounds of "the registration of disputed trademarks damages his name right".

The accusation of "flying man" Jordan, like a precise "cover up", hit Jordan sports, and its IPO process ran aground due to major lawsuits involved.

In 2014, when the CSRC mentioned the special case of "passing but not issuing" of Jordan sports IPO, it also admitted that "there are special matters for individual companies, such as major pending litigation of Jordan sports".

Although the Trademark Dispute Adjudication Board ruled that the controversial trademark was upheld, Michael Jordan filed another petition to court Jordan to sue for infringement of the trademark and the right to name.

From 2014 to 2015, the first intermediate people's Court of Beijing and the Beijing Higher People's court held the first and second trials of the above disputes respectively, and Michael Jordan lost.

On April 26, 2016, the Supreme People's court held a public session to hear 10 cases of administrative disputes over sports trademark disputes between Michael Jordan, the retrial applicant, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the respondent and the third person in the first instance.

On December 8, 2016, the Supreme People's court publicly adjudicated 10 cases, including 7 cases involving the combination of pinyin "Qiaodan", "Qiaodan" and graphic trademarks. The judgment upheld the second instance judgment and rejected the retrial application.

Until October 16, 2019, the Supreme People's Court concluded the trademark dispute case of Jordan sports company, which held that "the trademark does not reflect Jordan's personal characteristics and is not identifiable, so it does not constitute damage to the right of portrait."

Jordan sports IPO or clear up obstacles

So, the decision to leave the highest court has been in the past month. Is Jordan sports restarting its listing?

On November 11, 21st century economic reporter called the public phone number disclosed in Jordan sports 2011 prospectus, but no one answered.

"For the company to be listed, after the meeting, there will be a volume sealing process. After the volume is sealed, there will be a post meeting event review, and then wait for the issuance approval. There is no specific time limit from the volume sealing to the final issuance approval." "Although Jordan sports has passed the Committee since 2011, there is uncertainty about whether the review of the CSRC is still valid for so many years," said an analysis of the insurance agency of a securities firm in Beijing

It is worth mentioning that Jordan sports sponsors in 2011 prospectus disclosed the sponsor of the Bank of China, the two sponsor representatives were Chen Xingzhu and Yan Bin, the former had left the first venture securities in 2013, and the latter also left to Credit Suisse Founder Securities in 2016.

"The resignation of the sponsor representative should not be the core of the problem, but two new sponsor representatives can be found to supplement the materials of these years," said the Secretary of the board of directors of the Shanghai listed company.

Another lawyer from a law firm in Shanghai also believes that Jordan sports' listing "should be fast as long as there are no other new obstacles.".

But in the long eight years of Jordan sports waiting to be listed, the ranking of local sports brands has changed.

603555.SH has won the top spot, becoming the "A share sports brand first stock". However, according to the three Quarterly Bulletin released recently, the net profit of the net bird is -1.66 billion yuan, which turned into a deficit year by year, at the same time facing billions of debts.

Many local sports brands, such as Anta sports (02020. HK), Li Ning (02331. HK), Tebu International (01368. HK) and 361du (01361. HK), have been listed in Hong Kong. At present, Anta sports has become a sports leader with a market value of HK $203.9 billion, and Li Ning's total market value has reached HK $58.1 billion.

Jordan sports, who won the lawsuit, is also experimenting with a series of subtle changes.

On October 27, Jordan sports appeared in China International Fashion Week, showing its high-end series "Jordan quality dryness" new products, trying to make "Jordan quality dryness" a leading symbol of professional sports and fashion pioneer.

According to media reports, the image of some Jordan sports stores has changed, and the words once marked as "Jordan sports" have gradually narrowed and weakened, and replaced by the words "qdsports" or "beyond yourself". And its well-known brand logo "basketball man" is no longer prominent. The logo of some clothing is changed to "team", "shot", "Youth" and other series words, and only the logo of "basketball man" is reserved at the neckline or the initial logo of sleeves.

"Winning the lawsuit has a good influence on Jordan's sports listing, but we should also see that the competition of sports brand is very fierce at present. Consumers' concern about sports brand may be smaller and smaller, and the demand for personalization is higher and higher." In November 11th, He Wenyi, a researcher at Peking University's national sports industry research base, told the business reporter in twenty-first Century, "Anta, Anta and other brands are developing towards the tide. PEAK is using technology to empower new products."