Sports star Yao Ming prosecuted in China

The first case of trademark infringement has finally come to bear fruit.

The defendant, Wuhan Yunhe shark sporting goods Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yunhe sports") was awarded compensation by the second instance of the Hubei provincial high court. Yao Ming's economic losses, including the reasonable cost of safeguarding rights, amount to 1 million yuan.

Once popular in the market, "Yao Ming generation" sports shoes, clothing, basketball and other sporting goods were recognized as sports from Yunhe. In some advertising campaigns, Yunhe sports also used Yao Ming's portrait and signature, and sold it in a nationwide store.

But the "Yao Ming generation" trademark has not been approved by the State Administration for Industry and commerce.

Yao Ming said that it was unauthorized behavior without permission from the parties, and the first prosecution of Yunhe sports since March last year.

Due to the fact that the 300 thousand yuan compensation amount of the first instance decision was too low, at the end of last year, Yao Ming appealed to the Hubei provincial high court, requesting the defendant to compensate for the economic loss of 10 million yuan and to bear the reasonable costs of second instance litigation costs and rights protection.

Finally, the Hubei provincial high court thinks that it is a market operator.

Violation of business ethics and violation of the principle of honesty and credit seriously disrupt social and economic order.

In the discretionary compensation of economic losses, the first instance did not fully consider the nature, consequences, duration and other factors of the company's torts, and after March 2010 Yao Ming issued a formal statement, the company continued to infringe and indulge in the subjective fault of the infringement, and the compensation amount was set at 1 million yuan.

"This is just a warning, to remind some enterprises not to malicious infringement, the law will pay the price."

One industry commented.

Last year, the American pop star Michael Jordan, who was in a great uproar, sued the Chinese sports brand, Jordan, for example, the infringement of sports was an example. Although Jordan sports said that some of the names of Jordan's children had already been misunderstood.

But this has directly led to Jordan sports IPO so far fruitless.