On Dec. 8, former basketball superstar Michael Jordan finally won his trademark suit against Qiaodan Sports, a Chinese sportswear company based in southern Fujian province.

Qiaodan (乔丹), pronounced “chee-ow dahn,” is a Mandarin transliteration of “Jordan” that has been used in China to refer to the former Chicago Bulls player since the 1980s, as Jordan’s legal team noted in an online statement. Jordan first sued the company in 2012, alleging that Qiaodan Sports had taken his Chinese name, his team number 23, and was using a jumping man logo to sell basketball shoes and jerseys, misleading Chinese consumers into thinking Jordan was behind the brand.

However, Jordan lost the lawsuit, since the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce considered "乔丹" and "Qiaodan" different from "Michael Jordan" and its Chinese translation. In addition, the authority held that "Jordan" is a common name in English, not necessarily connected with the plaintiff. The former star appealed twice, in 2014 and 2015, but the court affirmed the original judgement.

On Dec. 8, the Supreme People's Court of China announced its judgement of the trademark suit after Jordan once again lodged an appeal. The court believes the controversial trademark registered by Qiaodan Sports violates Jordan's right of name and the trademark law. As a result, the court urged the company to remove its trademark of Chinese characters "乔丹."

However, the court rejected Jordan's appeal to remove the company's trademark of the name's romanization, holding that Jordan does not have right of name over "Qiaodan" and "qiaodan."