The 23-year-old Chinese-American, who was educated at Harvard, became a basketball sensation after rising from total obscurity and putting in some show-stealing appearances for the Manhattan-based side.
Naturally, Mr Lin, and his corporate partner Nike, are now keen to gain copyright status for a number of ‘Lin’ related products. Unfortunately for them, Chinese sports ball manufacturer Wuxi Risheng Sports Utility saw potential in Mr Lin over a year and half ago, and registered his name as a trademark for the relatively minor fee of 4,460 Yuan ($710).

Trademark dilemma

A report on Asian Legal Business suggests Mr Lin and Nike, who face the same dilemma as other American icons such as Michael Jordan and Apple, would have to part with a significant amount of money to wrestle the trademark away from Risheng.
Horace Lam, a Beijing-based intellectual property partner at global law firm Jones Day told ALB: ‘In China, first to register gets the rights. You may have an idea, and you can register its trademark without ever using it. Unlike in the US, where one must first show actual use or an intention to use before one can apply.
‘This trademark will be difficult to take from Rinsheng because Rinsheng applied for these trademarks … for use in the same products that Nike sells -- a wide array of athletic and sports equipment. Nike and Jeremy Lin could buy the trademark for Rinsheng, which could potentially cost millions of RMB.’

Rapid rise to fame

According to Forbes SportsMoney, Mr Lin, who is on a relatively modest $800,000 salary compared with his NBA colleagues, is worth around $15 million. Mr Lin, who has yet to comment on the developments, is currently trying to trademark the term ‘Linsanity’, which has been widely used to describe his rapid rise to fame.