BEIJING -- Basketball legend Michael Jordan now owns his Chinese name, after Chinas highest court sided with him Thursday following a yearslong legal battle over a trademark dispute.The former NBA star has fought a Chinese sportswear maker since 2012 over the name Qiaodan, pronounced CHEEOW-dan, the transliteration of Jordan in Mandarin.Qiaodan Sports, a company based in southern China, had registered the trademark under which it was selling its own shoes and sportswear.Jordan has been known by the Chinese characters for Qiaodan since he gained widespread popularity in the mid-1980s. He had previously argued unsuccessfully in Beijing courts that Qiaodan Sports had used his Chinese name, his old jersey number 23 and basketball player logo to make it look like he was associated with their brand.The Supreme Peoples Court on Thursday announced that it was overturning two rulings by Beijing courts against Jordan from 2014 and 2015 that had found there wasnt sufficient evidence to support the athletes allegations over the use of his image, and that Qiaodan was the translation of a common family name as the Chinese company claimed.It also ordered the trademark bureau to issue a new ruling on the use of the Chinese characters in the brand name Qiaodan, effectively awarding the trademark to Jordan. The company can continue to use the Romanized spelling of the name, however.Chief judge Tao Kaiyuan said there was an established link between Jordan and the Chinese characters for Qiaodan, which are commonly used by the public when referring to the former basketball player, meaning that Jordan was entitled to protection under the Trademark Law.The courts judgment was shown live on its website.Jordan said in a statement that millions of Chinese fans and consumers had always known him by the name Qiaodan and that he was happy the court recognized his right to protect his name.Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me. Nothing is more important than protecting your own name, and todays decision shows the importance of that principle, Jordan said.In a statement after the ruling, the company defended its actions but said it would respect the courts decision.In a twist in the legal saga, Qiaodan Sports successfully countersued Jordan in 2013 for preventing it from pursuing a stock market listing because of the trademark lawsuit.The case reflects the difficulties faced by foreign individuals and companies in protecting their copyrights in China, where domestic firms have long taken a cavalier attitude toward intellectual property.Numerous Chinese companies sell products with names that sound similar to well-known foreign brands, often with only one or two letters changed.Chinese law protects foreign companies in cases where their brand was already famous in China before being registered by a Chinese firm seeking to capitalize on its notoriety.However, Apple Inc. lost a legal battle earlier this year when a Beijing court ruled the company had failed to prove that iPhone was a famous brand in China before a Chinese company applied for the iPhone trademark in 2007. The Chinese company uses iPhone on its handbags and mobile phone cases.---Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen and researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report. Morten Andersen Womens Jersey . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Drew Brees Youth Jersey . John Tavares, Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early. http://www.authenticsaintssportsonline.com/saints-alvin-kamara-gold-jersey/ . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. 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COLLEGE FOOTBALLAUSTIN, Texas -- Texas says nothing has been decided on football coach Charlie Strong.Longhorns athletic director Mike Perrin, in the face of swirling reports that school officials had decided to fire Strong at the end of a third bad season, dismissed them as rumors and said the coach would be evaluated after playing TCU on Friday.Perrin, who has been publicly supportive of Strong all season, didnt say Strong would return.There are a number of rumors out there about the status of Coach Strong. Ive said it all along, we will evaluate the body of work after the regular season. We have a game to get ready for against TCU on Friday, and I hope our fans will come out and support our team. Well discuss where things stand after that, Perrin said.That sets up an awkward Monday for Strong when he addresses reporters on the Big 12 coaches conference call, and then later at his weekly campus news conference, which is televised by the Longhorn Network.UNDATED -- The Big Ten placed three teams in the top five of The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in 56 years, setting up a No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup for Ohio State and Michigan.Alabama was a unanimous No. 1 in the poll released Sunday. The Buckeyes were No. 2 and Wolverines No. 3. They meet in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday in a game with Big Ten and national championship implications.Clemson is No. 4, and No. 5 Wisconsin gives the Big Ten three of the first five for the first time since Nov. 7, 1960, when Minnesota was No. 1, Ohio State was No. 3 and Iowa was No. 5.Louisville dropped eight spots to No. 11 after getting trounced by Houston, which jumped in at No. 18.AUTO RACINGHOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson tied Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with a record seven NASCAR championships when the hard-luck breaks of racing turned Sundays title-deciding finale into his crowning moment.Johnson probably had the worst car of the four championship contenders at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but a strange sequence of events opened the track for him to take the title over Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and defending champion Kyle Busch.dddddddddddd.Edwards was in position to win until a caution with 10 laps remaining set up a wild sequence that ruined his title hopes. Edwards tried to block Logano on the restart, wound up wrecked, and it was Johnson who drove through the wreckage to take the championship lead.Johnson had to withstand two more restarts, including one in overtime, to score his first career victory at Homestead in the most monumental race of his career.PRO FOOTBALLNFL kickers missed like never before Sunday, setting a record with 12 failed extra point attempts.Kickers missed left and right, had kicks blocked and hit the uprights. Kickers missed in the wind and indoors. With several games left, kickers already had the most misses in one week since the NFL merger.The NFL moved extra-point attempts back before last season because the kicks had become routine, and professionals almost never missed. The 18-yard attempt became a 35-yarder. In Week 13 of last season, kickers missed eight. That mark was eclipsed by mid-afternoon Sunday.OLYMPICSGLASGOW, Scotland -- Russian sport is a long way from convincing the world that it has cleaned up its act, the World Anti-Doping Agency declared Sunday, pointing to the states failure to accept it was behind a doping program, its continued obstruction of testing, and a series of cyberattacks.Russia is seeking readmission to WADA a year after being declared non-compliant with the doping code, following the publication of a report detailing widespread cheating in track and field.Fresh evidence of state-backed doping cover-ups was revealed by investigators ahead of the Rio de Janeiro Games, although WADAs recommendation of a blanket ban on Russias Olympic team was rejected by the IOC.Russias integrity is set to be challenged again when Canadian law professor Richard McLarens final doping report is published on Dec. 9, with the focus on winter sports.WADA also said Sunday that a gene doping test will be used shortly by accredited laboratories. 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