LIV Golf is being advised to avoid its” A.” by the University of Alabama.
The school filed a trademark dispute with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on June 30 claiming Dustin Johnson’s LIV Golf League team’s logo was infringing on its brand.
Since at least 2003, Alabama has used its text” A” brand on its athletic clothing and apparel, including for its men’s and women’s golf clubs. ( Sports attorney John Nucci took the first to comment on the filing on Thursday on X. )
Over the past 20 years, the school’s athletic teams have had a lot of national identification and achievement,” the college wrote to the USPTO. ” As a result, the Script A Mark has been frequently displayed on national broadcast spread, in print advertising, and across electronic websites”.
Previous June, LIV Golf filed an intent-to-use software to record its 4Aces level, which also consists of a text” A”.
Alabama says 4Aces brand is “likely to produce confusion, error or fraud in the minds of the public”, and eventually damage the school.
4 Aces branding
Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images
LIV’s reaction is to the criticism is due next quarter, though dates are regularly extended. A request for comment was not received by a LIV Golf director.
This is not the first moment the Saudi-backed golf club has been accused of trademark violations.
As Sportico recently reported, Adidas is challenging the trademark registration of LIV Golf’s major logo, contending that its four-striped” LIV” text is” weirdly related” with the three-striped mark the European foot large has employed since 1952. LIV’s response in that matter is still pending.
In January, a federal trademark lawsuit filed against LIV by Cool Brands Supply, the owner of skateboarding apparel brand, Fallen Footwear, was dismissed after the parties apparently agreed to a settlement. The conflict arose because the HFGC logo, which is coached by Phil Mickelson, and the LIV Golf team, both used, are similar.
In its complaint, filed last June in the U. S. District Court of New Jersey, Cool Brands took a swing at LIV Golf’s financial backing.
” LIV Golf is financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and has been accused by some of sportswashing, namely, attempting to improve the public image of the Saudi Arabian monarchy ( which has been criticized for repression, corruption, and human rights abuses ) through sports”, the complaint stated.