Yao Ming, Coke Settle Lawsuit
Basketball sensation Yao Ming dropped a lawsuit against Coca-Cola's China subsidiary after the company stopped using his image on packaging and apologized for doing so without his permission, the company and China's official news agency said Friday.
"This matter is over. We have to move on," Xinhua's Chinese-language service quoted the Houston Rockets center as saying.
Yao, who has a sponsorship agreement with Pepsi-Cola, sought to block Coke from using his image after the company sold commemorative bottles showing Yao and two of his former colleagues from the Chinese national team.
His lawsuit sought only a symbolic 1 yuan (12 U.S. cents) in damages.
The Xinhua News Agency said the agreement withdrawing the lawsuit from Shanghai's Xuhui District Court was reached Thursday, more than three months after Coca-Cola (China) Beverages Ltd. stopped using Yao's picture on its products.
Coca-Cola released a statement from its global headquarters in Atlanta that it described as a "mediation agreement." The company cited its sponsorship of China's national team of which the 7-foot-6 Yao is a member but acknowledged it was wrong.
"On the basis of the fact that Coca-Cola (China) Beverages Ltd did not seek Yao Ming's consent in advance of its use of Yao Ming's portrait and name on the packaging of its products, Coca-Cola (China) Beverages Ltd. apologizes to Yao Ming for such conduct," the company said.
It said the mediation statement was printed in Chinese media as part of the agreement. Calls by The Associated Press to Coca-Cola offices in China went unanswered Friday night.
Coke said it had stopped producing and selling products bearing the pictures of Yao, fellow national team member Mengke Bateer - then of the San Antonio Spurs and now of the Toronto Raptors - and Chinese player Guo Shiqiang.
The company said it stopped making the products on June 3 and stopped selling them on July 4.
Coca-Cola's China operation had earlier maintained it had the right to show groups of at least three members of the Chinese national team under its sponsorship agreement.
Yao, a former player for the Shanghai Sharks of the China Basketball Association, is even more popular in this country than he is in the United States, and anything with his image stands to sell well -- particularly in his hometown of Shanghai, China's most populous city.
Because of the settlement, a trial previously set for Monday has been canceled.
"I hope more commercial sponsors will help Chinese basketball develop," Yao said in his statement, according to Xinhua.
The commemorative bottles in question showed Yao, Bateer and Guo in Chinese national team uniforms. Yao and Bateer played for China last year in the Asian Games and this year in the Asian men's basketball championship.
By Ted Anthony