A Beijing court has ordered Nike to pay $36,000 for using a stick figure in an ad that it said was copied from a Chinese cartoonist.
The court ruled that Nike had infringed on the copyright of 28-year-old cartoonist Zhu Zhiqiang, China Daily reported Thursday.
Nike representative Zhang Zaiping told the state-owned newspaper that the company would probably appeal the decision. Zhang said Zhu's "stickman" lacked originality, was in the public domain, and should not be protected by copyright.
He also said that Nike had paid advertising company Wieden and Kennedy $3 million for creating the advertisement.
According to the court, "Ahead of the completion of the cartoon character of the stickman by Zhu in 2000, there was no such artistic work in China. So the character was original and should be protected by Chinese laws."
Last month Nike came under attack for its TV ads in which NBA star LeBron James battled a cartoon kungfu master, dragons, and Chinese goddesses. China banned the ads as an insult to the country's national dignity.
A hacker disrupted the company's China Web site, www.nike.com.cn, Wednesday, replacing its content with a mocking New Year message in Chinese and English.
© Copyright 2004 by United Press International
