The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a sportswear manufacturer in south China's Fujian province for encroaching on the collective rights of the Chinese men's basketball team with the use of portraits, the Beijing Morning Post reports.

The defendant, Fujian Guirenniao Sportsware Company, is accused of using the pictures of top players from the Chinese men's basketball team, such as Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian, in TV advertisements for its products during the basketball game between the US and China held in Guangzhou this August.

Li Yuanwei, director of the Basketball Management Center, told a reporter that the company could only use pictures of members of Team Basketball China with the authorization of the CBA.

Fujian Guirenniao Sportsware Company denies the accusation, saying that a contract signed between the company and the Administration of Sports of Guangzhou Municipality has endowed them with the right to use pictures of the athletes.

Yan Xiaoming, general manager of the CBA Sports Development Center, knocked down this statement by pointing out that the Administration of Sports of Guangzhou Municipality was only an undertaker of the Guangzhou game and does not have the right to issue a commercial license, not to mention the fact that it by no means got the license from the CBA.

The CBA demands that the Guirenniao Company stop encroaching on the collective rights of the Chinese men's basketball team by using pictures of its members and is asking for compensation of three million yuan.

Beijing Chaoyang District Court has accepted the case.

(CRI December 28, 2006)