A Chinese animator has lost his final court battle against US footwear and apparel maker Nike Inc over the company's use of a stick figure illustration, state media reported yesterday.
Overturned
The Beijing High People's Court on Thursday overturned a lower court verdict that Nike should pay Chinese Internet cartoonist Zhu Zhiqiang (
The high court rejected the December 2004 ruling that found Nike had copied his "Little Match Man" illustration in one of its worldwide ad campaigns.
Judge Liu Hui (
Zhu will now have to pay court fees of more than 40,000 yuan, the paper said.
`Delighted'
"Nike is delighted by the favorable final verdict," Zhu Jinqian, a spokesman for the Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike, was quoted as saying. "This was never a commercial issue for us. It was a matter of principle."
The stick figure logo for Nike's "Creativity in Sports" campaign was designed by a US firm in 2002 at a cost of US$3 million.
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