Jordan'S Trademark Dispute Ends Jordan Sports IPO Or Will It Succeed?

The Jordan trademark dispute that lasted nearly 8 years ushered in the final outcome. Due to major litigation, Jordan sports IPO process has been stranded, the object of action is the United States basketball superstar Michael Jordan.

In October 16th, the Supreme People's Court concluded Jordan's sports trademark dispute and decided that its trademark did not damage Michael Jordan's right of portrait. The trademark does not embody Jordan's personal characteristics and is not identifiable. Therefore, the judgment does not constitute a damage to the right of portrait.

On the afternoon of October 17th, when he was in exclusive contact with Jordan sports Dong Mo Tian, he said he saw the news from the media, which meant that the listing process of Jordan sports was faster.

Tian Sheng said, "Jordan sports has been waiting for listing all these years, and the purpose of raising funds and projects has not changed."

An expensive "edge ball" caused IPO to run aground.

As early as 1991, Jordan sports registered the "Dan bridge" trademark and changed the name of the enterprise to "Jordan sports" in 2000.

It is undeniable that this beautiful "edge ball" helps Jordan sports sales break through only 100 million yuan in two years. In 2010, Jordan's sports business income was 2 billion 927 million yuan, the net profit attributable to the parent company was 518 million yuan.

In November 25, 2011, Jordan sports IPO meeting, intends to land at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, was the first landing A shares of China's local sporting goods business.

The prospectus showed that the number of shares issued is 112 million 500 thousand shares, and the estimated 1 billion 64 million yuan will be raised. The funds will be used for the expansion of production bases and the construction of Direct stores.

However, on the other side of the ocean, American basketball superstar Michael Jordan (Jordan), on the eve of Jordan sports listing, sued Jordan sports to infringe his right to name, and requested to cancel many trademarks. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board ruled to reject its application, and Jordan filed an administrative lawsuit.

In the next 8 years or so, Jordan flew and Jordan's original and defendant's identity was exchanged, giving evidence, disproof, infringement and infringement. The long lawsuit went from the intermediate court to the Supreme Court. During this period, Jordan sports even once did the advertising on the NBA arena.

Because of major litigation, Jordan sports IPO has been in a state of stagnation for a long time. Jordan sports has also become a typical case of listing failure due to major intellectual property litigation.

But in recent years, the competition in the clothing and footwear industry is extremely fierce. The performance of many famous companies in the industry has dropped sharply or even suffered losses. The market participants are also concerned about whether Jordan sports can go on the market smoothly.

The sponsor of Jordan sports was BOC International, the two sponsor representatives were Chen Xingzhu and Yan Bin. The former left the first venture securities in 2013, and the latter left for Credit Suisse Founder Securities in 2016.

Insiders said that for the listed companies, "over meeting" and "approval" are the two most important and most important links. If a business succeeds, it can only be said that one foot has passed the threshold of listing, but this does not mean "sit back and relax". Even if approval is obtained, it is not a "reassurance". Only listing the bell is the first step towards capital market.

At the news conference in 2014, the SFC referred to Jordan sports, which said that there was a major pending lawsuit. It belongs to the special situation of the enterprise. The SFC will push forward the listing work according to the procedures after the relevant limited factors are eliminated.

Quietly changing face to wait for breakout

The dispute over trademark has seriously delayed the listing process of Jordan sports. It is noteworthy that Jordan sports has made new moves this year. Jordan sports fine-tuning its trademarks in its products may be related to listing matters.

At present, the image of some Jordan sports shops has changed, and the words "Jordan sports" have been reduced, and new words such as "QDSPORTS" or "BREYOUND YOURSELF" have appeared.

In terms of product design, brand names "basketball players" are no longer conspicuous. Instead, the logo of some garments is changed to "TEAM", "SHOT" and "YOUTH". Only the "basketball player" trademark is reserved on the collar or sleeves.

In addition to changing store image and product, Jordan sports also sponsors sports competitions frequently, and uses platform to convey brand image. However, due to the high commercial value of China super, CBA, national team and so on, the resources of Jordan sports are limited in the marketing field.

Jordan sports is also the official sponsor of the World University Winter Games and the International Collegiate Athletic Association (FISU), as well as the equipment sponsor of the 25-30 China World University Summer Games.

Sportswear

Wang Jiyue, a senior investment bank, believes that if Jordan sports continues to be listed after this final ruling, it will be good for enterprises to catch up with the draught of sports clothing.

Recently, the apparel companies listed in the mainland and Hongkong have published semi annual reports, and the enterprises in the sports apparel industry have been riding the dust. Anta sports, Lining, XTEP and so on have shown a high growth trend in the performance data.

China's information industry network data show that in 2018, the total scale of the national sports industry was 2 trillion and 400 billion yuan, an increase of 9.09% over the same period last year, and the added value was 880 billion yuan, an increase of 12.82% over the same period last year. It is estimated that the industry will continue to maintain a healthy growth level in the next three years. The added value of sports industry is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan in 2020, and the domestic sports industry will enter a steady growth period. Different from the foreign sports industry, sports apparel is the largest in China's sports industry. Therefore, the rapid growth of industrial scale is a sign that the sports apparel industry is getting warmer.

Anta sports released its interim results in 2019. In 2019 1-6, the group's revenue was 14 billion 810 million yuan, an increase of 40.3% over the same period last year. Operating profit amounted to 4 billion 260 million yuan, an increase of 58.4% over the same period, and the profit attributable to shareholders was 2 billion 482 million yuan, an increase of 27.7% over the same period last year. Gross profit margin rose 1.8 percentage points to 56.1%. Anta's revenue growth is partly due to the strong performance of its fashion sports brand FILA. In the first half of this year, sales of the brand surged 80% from last year to about 6 billion 500 million yuan, accounting for 44% of Anta's total revenue.

In the first half of 2019, Lining's revenue amounted to 6 billion 255 million yuan, up 33% compared with the same period last year. The net profit of listed shareholders reached 795 million yuan, up 196% compared with the same period last year, and the net interest rate increased from 5.7% to 12.7%. Among them, the retail sales of "China Lining" products increased by 54% in the first half of the year.

In the first half of this year, XTEP's revenue was 3 billion 357 million yuan, an increase of 23% over the same period last year, and its operating profit amounted to 717 million yuan, an increase of 21% over the same period last year. Net profit was 463 million yuan, an increase of 23% over the same period last year. The gross gross profit margin increased by 0.9 percentage points from 43.7% in the same period last year to 44.6% in the first half of this year. Among them, the apparel business rose 50.4% in the same period.

Driven by the expected growth in performance, Lining and Anta sports both hit a record high in October 16th. Lining rose to a record high of HK $26.9 in October 16th. Anta sports rose to a historical high of HK $75.65 in October 16th, and its market value exceeded HK $200 billion to HK $204 billion 350 million.

Driven by performance, many major banks have raised target prices. HSBC and Guotai Junan have raised Anta sports target price to HK $80 / share. CICC has raised its target price to HK $94.64 / share. The latest closing price of the company is HK $74.65. At present, the market value of Anta sports has exceeded 200 billion Hong Kong dollars. It has become the largest clothing stock market in mainland China and Hongkong.

However, compared with the performance of the Hong Kong stock market, "A share sports first stock" is a contrast with Lining and Anta.

At present, the company is facing a debt crisis. The number of stores has been cut down from 2013, and nearly 5 stores have closed nearly half of them in the past 3000 and a half years. The company's share price has plummeted more than 90% since its peak in 2015, and its market value has been about 40000000000 from peak to 2 billion 500 million.

Although the expensive birds have taken the lead, they have become the "A share sports brand first stock" in China. In the absence of A high quality sports investment targets, Jordan sports listing can become the focus.