(AFP) – According to the Chinese press on Thursday 2 April, the American sports brand Nike has started legal proceedings against two Chinese businesses for counterfeiting, accusing them of copying its logo illustrating celebrity basketballer Michael Jordan scoring a basket.

Men's basketball trainers - Jordan 6 Rings by Nike

The lawyer for Nike has requested the Chinese courts to sentence the two companies to pay damages and interest for a total of 300,000 yuan, some $44,000.

Representing the companies, their lawyer has pleaded that their logo was different from Nike’s: “We didn’t know that the Nike logo looked like ours” he responded, averring that any confusion was impossible as their logo had the word ‘sports’ written under the design, a difference when compared to the Nike logo.

The Chinese government has promised to crack down on counterfeiting and contraband goods.

In China the number of ongoing cases regarding the violation of intellectual property has seen a marked increase, with 1,634 cases in 2008 in Shanghai’s courts, a 41% increase over 2007.