A Chinese cartoonist has taken Nike to court, accusing the US sports apparel giant of violating his intellectual property rights in a character for the company's global marketing campaign, state press reported last Friday. Online cartoonist Zhu Zhiqiang alleges the 'Stickman' image used in Nike's advertising campaign bears too strong a resemblance to 'Little Match Man', a character used in his flash animation work, the China Daily said. "The Stickman, in a recent advertisement of Nike, pirated a logo of my serial flash works," Zhu Zhiqiang, 28, was quoted as saying. "My commercial interests out of the logo, which was registered in the year 2000 for copyright protection, have been severely damaged due to Nike's illegal use," Zhu said. The Beijing-based artist has demanded two million yuan (R1.45 billion) in compensation and a public apology.  Zhang Zaiping, a lawyer representing Nike, dismissed the allegations. "The small man figure created by the plaintiff and his gestures are absolutely different from Nike's Stickman," Zhang said. He added that "as one of the world biggest sports wear producers, Nike is devoted to protection of IPR and respects others' rights". Zhang claimed Stickman was independently designed by the advertisement company Wieden and Kennedy in 2002 and Nike had spent about 25 million yuan on the design. Nike also maintains Stickman cannot come under copyright protection because it lacks originality. "From mural and stone paintings in ancient times to Sherlock Holmes stories, the logo has been used repeatedly," Zhang said, adding it was a "logo usually used in the public domain." Court proceedings opened in Beijing Thursday. Source: AFP