中國最高法院判決喬丹擁有中文姓名權
BEIJING — Michael Jordan has pulled out a victory in an arena long known as unfriendly to visitors: the Chinese legal system.
北京——邁克爾•喬丹(Michael Jordan)在一個長期對客隊不利的賽場上取得了勝利，那就是中國的法律體系。
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.
中國最高法院本週四的裁決大半對前籃球明星喬丹有利。這是一個具有里程碑意義的裁決，界定了商標保護案件中個人名字的基本規則。
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.
最高法院推翻了下級法院之前的裁決，認爲喬丹擁有自己名字所對應漢字的法律權利。這個商標爭端引起了人們的關注，它爲外國公司和名人在中國打類似的官司設定了一個先例。
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.
這項爲時四年的訴訟一方是喬丹，另一方是喬丹體育公司(Qiaodan Sports Company)，喬丹指責該公司把自己名字的普通話音譯漢字做爲品牌來使用。北京的下級法院之前的裁決是，位於南部省份福建的喬丹公司可以用漢字“喬丹”來銷售商品，最高人民法院撤銷了這個裁決。
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.
不過高等法院也說，沒有足夠的證據表明中國消費者會將喬丹的名字與其拼音拼寫聯繫起來。拼音是漢字的羅馬化系統。
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.
喬丹對這個裁決表示歡迎，他在一份書面聲明中表示，他在中國的球迷和其他消費者現在知道他和喬丹體育公司之間沒有任何聯繫了。
“Nothing is more important than protecting your own name, and today’s decision shows the importance of that principle,” Mr. Jordan said.
喬丹說：“沒有什麼事情比保護自己的名字更重要了，今天的裁決顯示了這一原則的重要性。”
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.
喬丹體育在其官方微博上的一份聲明中說，它尊重法院的裁決，並將“依法履行好我司品牌及其相關知識產權的保護”。
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.
律師們表示，這個判決很重要，因爲它確定了商標案件中個人名稱受保護的範圍，表明外國名人可以成功挑戰在中國使用他們名字音譯漢字的第三方。
“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.
政府智庫中國社會科學院知識產權法研究專家李順德說，“雖然這是個個案，但影響是廣泛的。”
“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.”
“我相信這些情況外國企業應該能看得很清楚。也就是能增強他們繼續在中國不管進行投資還是商業活動，增強他們在這方面的期望和信心。”
Until the Jordan ruling, it was unclear how completely names were protected, resulting in inconsistent decisions from the administrative authorities and the courts.
在喬丹一案裁決出來之前，大家並不清楚姓名如何得到保護，因此行政當局和法院有時會做出不一致的決定。
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.
最高人民法院在網上直播中宣佈了這個裁決，可能反映了北京最近想要解決該國嚴重的商標侵權問題的決心。
“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.
在華代表一些美國企業的美國盛智律師事務所(Sheppard, Mullin, Richter& Hampton)的知識產權律師彭明(Scott Palmer)說：“這個裁決意義重大，因爲它是處理該類型權利的最引人矚目的一個案件。”
“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.
“最高法院對裁決進行直播，這非常清楚地傳達了一個信息，即法院認爲，這是一個具有里程碑意義的決定。”他說。
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.
這項裁決可能對其他外國公司和名人產生廣泛影響，他們一直以來都對中國的商標侵權問題怨聲載道。包括蘋果和星巴克在內的許多西方公司，以及包括候任總統唐納德•J•特朗普(Donald J. Trump)在內的很多名人，都捲入了在中國使用自己名字權利的長期法律糾紛中。
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，一家中國公司贏得了與蘋果公司之間多年的法律糾紛，獲得了用iPhone這個商標來銷售皮革產品的權利。新百倫(New Balance)支付了1600萬美元的賠償金，因爲法院認爲它非法使用了這個中文名稱，該商標已經被一箇中國人註冊。
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.
這項裁決可能會給中國的“商標黃牛”造成衝擊，一些外國公司稱，這種人靠註冊知名品牌的名字來獲利。在中國，商標權一般被授予那些首先向政府提交申請的人。
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.
喬丹的公關公司發表聲明稱，涉及喬丹名字的另一個冠名權案件仍在上海等待裁決。
