Behind the euphoria of the Raptor’s Championship lurks a dark cloud. Monster Energy has commenced a proceeding, known as a Trademark Opposition, to prevent the most recent versions of the Toronto Raptors’ logos from being registered as trademarks.
AN ATHLETE’S RIGHTS TO PROTECT AND EXPLOIT THEIR PERSONAL BRAND
While the recent strong performance of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA finals has brought joy and hope to Toronto sports fans and supporters of Canadian basketball, it has also brought with it a flood of media coverage. The daily spotlight being shone on the team should come as no surprise to anybody, nor should the fact that anything even remotely associated with Raptor’s star forward, Kawhi Leonard (“Leonard”), is met with an exceptional amount of scrutiny. So, one can imagine just how much attention a story might receive involving one of the NBA’s biggest stars and the sports industry’s largest apparel company. As was widely reported earlier this week by just about every single news media outlet in North America, Leonard has initiated legal action against sports apparel giant Nike Inc. (“Nike”) over control of his personal branding.