World Champion Lin Dan having trouble cashing in on fame

Badminton world champion Lin Dan of China is having trouble cashing in on his new fame.

Photo: World Champion Lin Dan having trouble cashing in on fame

Lin, who won the men's world singles title last year, has discovered that his name has already been trademarked not once, but twice.

According to Tuesday's state-run China Daily newspaper, Lin's name has been trademarked by a health products company, and by a food processing plant. One trademark is in Chinese, and the other in pinyin, the system used to render Chinese characters into a Latin-based alphabet.

Lin is not the first Chinese sports star to run into trouble trying to register trademarks or Internet domain names. Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang and basketball star Yao Ming have also had problems, reports AP.

Lin Dan defeated fellow Chinese Bao Chunlai in the final of the World Championships four month ago in Madrid, Spain.