Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors is battling Golden State in the NBA Finals while pursuing a lawsuit against Nike.
According to online sources, Kawhi Leonard claims that he designed a logo for himself back in 2011. The same year he was drafted by the NBA.
“Leonard traced his notably large hand,” the lawsuit states, “and, inside the hand, drew stylized versions of his initials ‘KL’ and the number that he had worn for much of his career, ‘2.’”
Several years later when he received an endorsement deal from Nike, he granted special permissions of the logo.
Of course, he also wanted access to use his logo on non-Nike goods as a part of that endorsement deal.
This is where things get sticky.
Kawhi claims that without his knowledge, “Nike filed an application for copyright registration of his logo and falsely represented in the application that Nike had authored the logo.”
Awww man.
Kawhi Leonard also wants to use the logo for clothing brands, footwear, and other related goods in connection with sports camps and charities.
Nike “explicitly has objected to such uses.”
Wait… What?!
He’s asking a judge to handle the issue, reclaiming his legal rights in ownership of the logo and to rule that Nike “committed fraud on the Copyright Office in registering the Leonard Logo.”
It seems as though Mr. Leonard is doing what any normal person would do: claim what’s his!
