中国最高法院判决乔丹拥有中文姓名权
BEIJING — Michael Jordan has pulled out a victory in an arena long known as unfriendly to visitors: the Chinese legal system.
北京——迈克尔•乔丹(Michael Jordan)在一个长期对客队不利的赛场上取得了胜利，那就是中国的法律体系。
China’s highest court on Thursday ruled largely in favor of Mr. Jordan, the former basketball star, in a landmark decision that lays out the ground rules for protecting personal names in trademark cases.
中国最高法院本周四的裁决大半对前篮球明星乔丹有利。这是一个具有里程碑意义的裁决，界定了商标保护案件中个人名字的基本规则。
The decision held that Mr. Jordan owns the legal rights to the Chinese characters of the equivalent of his name, overturning previous lower-court rulings. The trademark dispute drew attention for the precedent it could set for foreign companies and celebrities pursuing similar cases in China.
最高法院推翻了下级法院之前的裁决，认为乔丹拥有自己名字所对应汉字的法律权利。这个商标争端引起了人们的关注，它为外国公司和名人在中国打类似的官司设定了一个先例。
The four-year lawsuit pitted Mr. Jordan against Qiaodan Sports Company, which he has accused of building a brand around the Mandarin transliteration of his name. The verdict, from the Supreme People’s Court, reversed previous rulings by lower courts in Beijing that said Qiaodan, based in the southern province of Fujian, could use the Chinese characters for Jordan to sell their goods.
这项为时四年的诉讼一方是乔丹，另一方是乔丹体育公司(Qiaodan Sports Company)，乔丹指责该公司把自己名字的普通话音译汉字做为品牌来使用。北京的下级法院之前的裁决是，位于南部省份福建的乔丹公司可以用汉字“乔丹”来销售商品，最高人民法院撤销了这个裁决。
The high court, however, said there was not sufficient evidence to show that Chinese consumers associated the Pinyin version — the Romanized system of the Chinese language — with Mr. Jordan’s name.
不过高等法院也说，没有足够的证据表明中国消费者会将乔丹的名字与其拼音拼写联系起来。拼音是汉字的罗马化系统。
Mr. Jordan applauded the decision, saying in a written statement that his Chinese fans and other consumers in the country now knew that there was no connection between him and Qiaodan Sports.
乔丹对这个裁决表示欢迎，他在一份书面声明中表示，他在中国的球迷和其他消费者现在知道他和乔丹体育公司之间没有任何联系了。
“Nothing is more important than protecting your own name, and today’s decision shows the importance of that principle,” Mr. Jordan said.
乔丹说：“没有什么事情比保护自己的名字更重要了，今天的裁决显示了这一原则的重要性。”
In a statement on its Weibo account, Qiaodan (pronounced cheow-dahn) said that it respected the court’s ruling and that it would fulfill “the protection of its company’s brand and related intellectual property rights” in accordance with the law.
乔丹体育在其官方微博上的一份声明中说，它尊重法院的裁决，并将“依法履行好我司品牌及其相关知识产权的保护”。
Lawyers say the verdict is important because it establishes the scope of protection for personal names in trademark cases, indicating that foreign celebrities can successfully challenge third parties that use the Chinese characters of their names in China.
律师们表示，这个判决很重要，因为它确定了商标案件中个人名称受保护的范围，表明外国名人可以成功挑战在中国使用他们名字音译汉字的第三方。
“Although this is an individual case, the impact of this will be quite extensive,” said Li Shunde, a research specialist in intellectual-property law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank.
政府智库中国社会科学院知识产权法研究专家李顺德说，“虽然这是个个案，但影响是广泛的。”
“I believe that foreign companies should be able to see this very clearly and this will enhance their continued investment or commercial activities in China as well as improve their expectations and confidence in this regard.”
“我相信这些情况外国企业应该能看得很清楚。也就是能增强他们继续在中国不管进行投资还是商业活动，增强他们在这方面的期望和信心。”
Until the Jordan ruling, it was unclear how completely names were protected, resulting in inconsistent decisions from the administrative authorities and the courts.
在乔丹一案裁决出来之前，大家并不清楚姓名如何得到保护，因此行政当局和法院有时会做出不一致的决定。
The ruling, announced in a live broadcast online by the Supreme People’s Court, may reflect a renewed determination by Beijing to tackle the country’s rampant trademark infringement problem.
最高人民法院在网上直播中宣布了这个裁决，可能反映了北京最近想要解决该国严重的商标侵权问题的决心。
“It’s significant in that it’s the most high-profile case dealing with these types of rights,” said Scott Palmer, an intellectual property lawyer at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, which represents American corporations in China.
在华代表一些美国企业的美国盛智律师事务所(Sheppard, Mullin, Richter& Hampton)的知识产权律师彭明(Scott Palmer)说：“这个裁决意义重大，因为它是处理该类型权利的最引人瞩目的一个案件。”
“The Supreme Court has made the effort to televise their decision live, and this very clearly sends the message that the courts view this as a landmark decision,” he added.
“最高法院对裁决进行直播，这非常清楚地传达了一个信息，即法院认为，这是一个具有里程碑意义的决定。”他说。
The ruling could have broad implications for other foreign companies and celebrities, who have long complained of trademark infringement in China. Many Western companies, like Apple and Starbucks, and celebrities, including President-elect Donald J. Trump, have been caught up in long legal battles over the right to use their names in China.
这项裁决可能对其他外国公司和名人产生广泛影响，他们一直以来都对中国的商标侵权问题怨声载道。包括苹果和星巴克在内的许多西方公司，以及包括候任总统唐纳德•J•特朗普(Donald J. Trump)在内的很多名人，都卷入了在中国使用自己名字权利的长期法律纠纷中。
In May, a Chinese company won the right to sell its leather goods under the iPhone trademark after years of legal wrangling with Apple. New Balance paid $16 million in damages for what a court said was the illegal use of the Chinese name for the company, which a Chinese person had trademarked.
今年5月，一家中国公司赢得了与苹果公司之间多年的法律纠纷，获得了用iPhone这个商标来销售皮革产品的权利。新百伦(New Balance)支付了1600万美元的赔偿金，因为法院认为它非法使用了这个中文名称，该商标已经被一个中国人注册。
The ruling could hurt China’s so-called trademark squatters, people who foreign companies say have profited from registering the names of well-known brands. In China, trademarks are generally awarded to those who are first to file with the government.
这项裁决可能会给中国的“商标黄牛”造成冲击，一些外国公司称，这种人靠注册知名品牌的名字来获利。在中国，商标权一般被授予那些首先向政府提交申请的人。
A separate naming rights case involving Mr. Jordan’s name is still pending in Shanghai, according to the statement from Mr. Jordan’s public relations firm.
乔丹的公关公司发表声明称，涉及乔丹名字的另一个冠名权案件仍在上海等待裁决。
