A federal judge sided with Nike on Wednesday in their legal battle with Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi has lost the lawsuit against Nike in his attempt to regain the rights of the famous ‘Klaw’ logo he helped design.
Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian reports that U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman rejected Leonard’s claims, favoring the multinational corporation. Last June it was revealed that Kawhi had sued Nike over the rights of his ‘Klaw’ logo. For Leonard, the company badly copyrighted the logo, stating that the image belonged to him since he designed it.
“… the logo Nike designers helped create with Leonard marked an “independent piece of intellectual property” that was distinct from the original sketch Leonard initially conceived and shared with Nike.
“It’s not merely a derivative work of the sketch itself,” the judge ruled from the bench after an hour of oral argument held by phone as well as multiple briefs filed in the case. “I do find it to be new and significantly different from the design.”
The apparel company countersued Leonard in July, arguing that the player “fraudulently claimed to be the author and sole owner of the Claw design”.
JUST IN: Nike fires back at Kawhi Leonard, say they own his logo, say his use of it is in breach of their contract, which expired in September (H/T @JoshGerben) pic.twitter.com/0b1i4Ooj2k
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 18, 2019
This whole thing started when Kawhi decided to leave Nike and sign with New Balance to become the new face of their basketball line. Nike initially filed the copyright claim for the logo in 2014; they reportedly made it clear that Leonard provided a sketch for the logo, but they finished the work.
Peter Ginsberg, Kawhi’s attorney, expressed his frustration with the outcome of the lawsuit and stated he was looking for different options to help the player.
“Kawhi put his heart and soul into that design, so we are obviously disappointed the judge ruled the logo belongs to Nike and not Kawhi,” Ginsberg said, per The Oregonian. “We’re considering our options to protect Kawhi’s interests.”
This is a big hit for Kawhi. His legal team will have to do something to get the rights of the logo. Otherwise, he’ll have to create a new logo in collaboration with New Balance.
