Jordan faces challenge in a new court from Qiaodan

BEIJING - Qiaodan Sports, the company sued by US basketball legend Michael Jordan for unauthorized use of his name, defended itself by stressing its brand "cannot be identified with Michael Jordan".

Jordan filed a lawsuit against the Chinese company on Thursday morning. He accused the company, based in Jinjiang in East China's Fujian province, of building its business around his name in Chinese and jersey number without his permission. The firm denied the accusation.

"We just use a Chinese translation of a common foreign family name and it cannot be identified with Michael Jordan," said Hou Lidong, manager of the public relations department of Qiaodan Sports.