You don't always wanna be like Mike.
The Jordan brand owned by Michael Jordan and Nike didn't own the Chinese transliteration of his name 乔丹... nor its pinyin Romanization "Qiaodan." Not until this April after a grueling 8 year legal battle.
That's because China's naming rights work on a FIRST-to-file basis. Not RIGHT-to-file.
This is critical in a an ecommerce environment dominated by marketplaces like Tmall because brands have access to a type of banner that takes up significant screen real estate. The conversion rates on them are insane.
In China, people call MJ "Qiaodan." Nobody calls him "Jordan." So the majority of people searching for MJ on Taobao will see the knockoff brand taking up half their screen. Sure, the fans that know will know... but it's still a lot of lost traffic & revenue.
Today, the knockoff brand still continues to enjoy the benefits of Jordan's branded traffic on Tmall.
If your brand has any plans of gaining an audience in China, make sure you register the name early.