A federal court in Oregon has ruled against Kawhi Leonard in a lawsuit over the ‘Klaw’ logo between the Clippers star and Nike, Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian reports.
“U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman ruled that 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,” Bernstein wrote.
Leonard sued Nike last June, alleging the company had copyrighted his personal ‘Klaw’ logo, which he said he created in college. Nike countersued Leonard, saying the logo was created by them from sketches Leonard had provided, and that Leonard had approved the logo as part of his contract with the company. Leonard and Nike had a partnership from 2011 to 2018 before he moved to his current brand, New Balance.
“It’s not merely a derivative work of the sketch itself,” the judge ruled Wednesday after a hearing over the phone, Bernstein reports. “I do find it to be new and significantly different from the design.”
One of Leonard’s lawyers, Peter R. Ginsberg, said they are weighing their options on how to next proceed.
“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, according to Bernstein. “We’re considering our options to protect Kawhi’s interests.”
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