Svetlana Kuznetsova signs with Qiaodan

Written by: Staff on 22nd January 2013

Svetlana Kuznetsova signs with Qiaodan

epa03547417 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia serves during her 4th round match against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 21 January 2013. EPA/BARBARA WALTON |

Svetlana Kuznetsova has a new clothing and shoe deal, switching from Fila to Qiaodan right before of the Australian Open began.

Fila has recently signed Germany’s Julia Goerges and it’s unclear whether they wanted to continue on with Kuznetsova, who had been with them for 10 years.

“I appreciate everything they done,” the Russian said of Fila. “But it’s time for me to do a new thing, and that’s why [I] signed [the] deal. And [I am] pretty happy looking forward to have a good relationship with the new company, Chinese company. I like so much the quality of the clothes. I like the design a lot.”

Qiaodan Sports isn’t a big name in the tennis world overall, but it is in Chinese sport.

In 2010, the company had 5,374 stores in China and made $82.7 million profits.

It also made headlines last year when basketball legend Michael Jordan sued it for the unauthorized use of his name. Qiaodan means “Jordan” in Chinese

Jordan accused the company of building its brand around his name in Chinese and using his jersey number without his permission.

There has been no trial set, but Qiaodan is fighting the accusation

“We just use a Chinese translation of a common foreign family name and it cannot be identified with Michael Jordan,” Qiaodan ‘s Hou Lidong told the Chinese press.

The company also said that it is legally registered in China and protected by domestic law, which will make it hard for Jordan to press his case.

The company has been using the name since 2000. Apparently, Jordan became aware of it last year when Qiaodan signed Sacramento Kings’ center Chuck Hayes as its brand ambassador.

Jordan’s Chinese lawyer said that they are seeking millions in compensation.

Qiaodan has sportswear deals with the Chinese and Russian university sports federations.

Qiaodan Sports is also battling with the Federation of International Basketball, which says that it is illegally selling its products through its outlets in China.

However, just last month, the Chinese government said it plans to change laws to crackdown on “malicious” trademark registrations.

Over the years, numerous foreign governments have demanded that China take a stronger stand against intellectual property rights violations.

©Daily tennis News Wire

Topics: Julia Goerges, Michael Jordan, Qiaodan, Sports, Svetlana Kuznetsova, tennis sponsors