A Zhejiang-based company has registered Lin Dan's name as a trademark for health products.

According to the current regulations announced by the trademark office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on January 7, the one who has a name or brand registered will be allowed to own the trademark as long as there is no complaints within three months and the registration is used to good purpose

Another feed-processing plant, which is based in southwest China's Sichuan province, has already registered Lin Dan's Chinese name successfully and its ownership of the trademark won't expire until October, 2008.

"It is tough to get them back if the sports stars' names are registered, so Lin needs to take some measures to protect his economic rights and interests beforehand," said Lin's lawyer.

"I have no 100 percent confidence, but the Zhengjiang-based manufacturer will possibly fail to hit the mark when we strike a blow against it," the lawyer added.

Chinese sports stars are often fretting over their names being used, not by themselves, for trademarks or domain addresses.

Li Ning, China's most famous gymnast and a sports goods businessman as well, spent a lot in buying other trademarks named after him.

Liu Xuegen, father of 110-meter hurdles world record holder Liu Xiang, went to register Liu Xiang's name only for him to find it has been used.

NBA star Yao Ming is another main casualty whose name was often registered maliciously by others for economic gains. One of the funniest example was that a company even registered Yao's Chinese name as a trademark for feminine napkin.

Lin Dan, nicknamed Super Dan by his Chinese fans, claimed his first ever world title at the World Badminton Championships last September. He seemed never afraid of any opponent on court, but Lin just could not fight all the name piracy at one time.

Short of money, the 23-year-old Olympic hopeful could only register his name in related lines of work such as badminton racket, sportswear and foods. However, this has already cost him about 120,000 yuan (15,000 US dollars).