Nearly two years ago, in August, China saw the budding
athletic ability in New York Knicks NBA starter, Jeremy Lin. A sports ball
maker in eastern China registered his name trademark for $710 a year and a half
ago.
The trademark is now an issue because Jeremy Lin would like
to have the rights to his own name.
However, Chinese laws grant favor to whomever registers the
trademark first, which in this case was China.
Lin, 23, rose to fame this year after sitting on the bench to starting
for the Knicks.
The ball maker company, Wuxi Risheng Sports Utility Co,
registered his name as trademark. It also obtained the trademark of variations
of his name,"Lin
Shuhao (in Chinese characters) Jeremy S.H.L. (initials of Lin's Chinese
name)", according to the website of the trademark office of China's State
Administration of Industry and Commerce.
In
August all Trademark rights were approved to the ball making company for $710
USD. However, this causes discrepancies
for Lin, because he signed a three-year contract in 2010 with Nike whom would
like to profit off of his name.
Considering
the fact that China has different laws from the U.S. which give the trademark, “Jeremy
Lin” ownership to Risheng, I recommend that Lin take it as a loss. In China the
first to register gets the rights, and can use the trademark or not. In America
we must have a valid reason as to why we want to trademark something. There are
two different govern laws going on. In China, the trademark “Jeremy Lin” should
be in the possession of Risheng because their legal representative believed in
Lin’s potential obviously before anyone else thought to trademark it. Risheng
legal representative, Yu Minijie said, “Lin caught her eye when she saw him
playing on Chinese television in 2010.”
"I'm a Harvard fan ... I like him very much. He gave me a lot of surprises and inspiration," Yu told Reuters.
"I'm a Harvard fan ... I like him very much. He gave me a lot of surprises and inspiration," Yu told Reuters.
However,
in review of other articles, it was revealed that she would sell the trademark,
“Jeremy Lin” for a reasonable offer. But as of now no one has offered her
anything.
Lin
did however, win ownership of trademark “Linsanity.” As many as 12 other
applicants applied for trademark of the name as well. People were waiting to
see what ruling the judge would make regarding. The judge decided that Lin
should be the one profiting from his own fame and granted him the trademark,
Linsanity. This trademark currently is a part of the Nike contract and shoes
and sports clothing line is attached to it.
Though
Lin doesn’t have rights to his own name in China til 2021, he still is well off
for a 23yr old, Harvard Economics graduate. He is currently on a $800,000 a yr term
with the Knicks and has endorsement deals. It was stated by Reuters that he is worth well off 15 million dollars. I think that he should let China
keep the trademark and continue on with his newly famed success as a superstar.
References
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/jeremy-lin-trademark-scooped-chinese-company_n_1303271.html
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