China's top men's badminton player Lin Dan has run into
unexpected trouble trying to cash in on his superstar status, after
discovering his name has already been trademarked, twice.
A Zhejiang-based company has registered "Lin Dan", in pinyin, as
a trademark for health products, while a food-processing plant in
Southwest China's Sichuan Province has registered his Chinese
name.
According to the latest regulations by the trademark office of
the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued January
7, the owner of the trademark will be able to keep it provided it
is used for good purpose and no complaints are registered in the
first three months.
The food-processing plant has already registered Lin Dan's name
successfully and the trademark won't expire until October 2008.
"It is tough to get sports stars' names back if they are
registered," admitted Lin's lawyer. "Lin needs to take some
measures to protect his economic rights and interests ahead of
time."
"I can't be 100 percent confident, but hopefully we can strike
back at the Zhejiang-based manufacturer," the lawyer added.
Lin is not the first Chinese sports star to run into trouble
with trademarks or Internet domain names.
Liu Xuegen, father of 110-meter hurdles world record holder Liu
Xiang, went to register his son's name only to find it had already
been taken. NBA star Yao Ming has been a frequent target of
opportunist businesspeople: In one case his name was used as a
trademark for sanitary napkins.
Lin claimed his first ever world title at the World
Championships last September.
The 23-year-old Olympic hopeful has only been able to register
his name in related lines such as badminton rackets, sportswear and
foods. However, this has already set him back about 120,000 yuan
($15,000), a considerable amount given the relatively low prize
money on offer in professional badminton.
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2007)