They've gone too far....
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China laws are corrupt
Wow! I'm shocked! Not!
Not all cultures have same view of copyright. Different cultures, diferent ideas.
That is out right stealing.
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Chicago Bulls might wish to act on their own behalf.
Simple fact is MJ and the NBA need to secure the copyrights here (international copyright), otherwise there's no legal infringement - assuming the story is true.
Playing the Devil's advocate here, what is one's position regarding artwork and cultural relics that were taken, some say stolen, from China during the late Qing as spoils of war in which western courts have consistently ruled against Chinese claim of ownership?
Not relevant to copyright law.
@laotou: Do you seriously think MJ, the NBA and the Bulls do not know how to protect their intellectual property rights?
1. Socialists hold that all property belongs to the state and this includes intellectual rights. Marx wrote about this.
2. China's IPR law provides weak protection for the original inventors and creators of IP. Essentially, and unlike most of the rest of the world, the issue in China is completion of the bureaucratic registration process rather than when the invention/trademark/writing/trade dress was originated.
3. In China, seeking damages for infringement requires the plaintiff to deposit with the courts, the full amount of the claimed damages upon filling the lawsuit. Further, recoverable damages are limited, not to lost business, but the actual costs to manufacture of that portion of the product deemed to infringe. In other words, if a company sells 500 million MJ shirts for 50 yuan each with the cost to print "JORDON" on each shirt is one mao, the damages are limited to 50 million yuan.
4. China's attitude toward IPR is bi-polar in that if Chinese IPR is infringed the legal process is much more vigorously prosecuted than if the IPR is foreign owned.
5. In the MJ case, no matter the legal outcome in China, the infringing goods are subject to seizure upon entry to the U.S>
My experience: I was ordered to halt writing a book on China's IIT as all references to Chinese law were infringement of someone's (the governments) IPR. Also, I was the Controller of DiscoVision Associates, www.discovision.com/DVA/History
when it was sold to Pioneer in 1989. DVA's sole business was licensing patents. Please note, I am not a lawyer or IPR expert but did spend a few years finding infringers and valuating the damages for subsequent negotiations.