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Attorneys of Michael Jordan shows the dunking basketball player logo used by the Chinese company at China's Supreme People's Court which hears Michael Jordan's trademark appeals in Beijing in April 2016. [Photo/Weibo.com]

China's top court on Thursday ruled in favor of part of the claims lodged by American basketball icon Michael Jordan against a Chinese firm and the trademark authority.

The Supreme People's Court ruled that the trademark in dispute, "Qiaodan" (Chinese characters 乔丹), the Chinese translation for Jordan, violated Jordan's right to his name and broke provisions in the Trademark Law. The registration of the "Qiaodan" trademark will also be revoked.

But the court ruled that the former NBA legend has no exclusive rights to the use of the alphabetic spelling of "Qiaodan," which is the Pinyin (phonetic spelling) of the Chinese characters, and rejected his claim in this regard.

"I am happy that the Supreme People's Court has recognized the right to protect my name through its ruling in the trademark cases," Jordan said in a statement. "Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me."

Qiaodan Sports also released a statement on Thursday morning that it respected the Supreme People's Court's ruling but downplayed the significance by saying Jordan only won three out of 10 trademark claims. It said it had won 50 trademarks disputes brought by Jordan in court and the latest ruling would not affect the company's other trademarks.

The company added in the statement today that it differed itself from Michael Jordan even before the former NBA star filed lawsuits. At the same time it said it had legally operated for decades and paid 1.5 billion yuan in tax to the country, donating 200 million yuan to charitable causes and producing more than 80,000 jobs all through years.

Qiaodan Sports was preparing for an IPO before the Jordan lawsuit. Legal analysts said the latest ruling will badly affect its IPO ambitions.

The four-year long grueling legal battle started in 2012, when Michael Jordan accused Qiaodan Sports Co. Ltd., a Chinese sportswear and shoe manufacturer, of the unauthorized use of his name and identity. He claimed this misled Chinese consumers to believe he was behind the brand and filed 68 trademark claims against the Chinese company.

Jordan also appealed to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce to revoke the trademarks in dispute, but this was rejected. Later, Jordan filed lawsuits against the adjudication of the trademark authority but lost.

Chinese courts originally upheld the adjudication on the grounds that the Chinese translation "Qiaodan" is the translation of a common family name, and does not necessarily refer to the basketball player's name only.

In 2015, Jordan appealed to the top court saying that previous verdicts by Beijing courts permitted Qiaodan Sports to use his Chinese name "Qiaodan", his team number 23 and a dunking basketball player logo, which Jordan claimed made it appear that he was associated with the brand.

The Supreme People's Court accepted the appeal on the basis of the Administrative Procedural Law. In April 2016, the court publicly tried the trademark dispute case filed by Jordan.

Aside the top court ruling, a separate rights case against Qiaodan Sports is still pending in Shanghai, Jordan said in his statement that he respects China's laws and expects the Shanghai court to also rule in his favor.

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