Break The Cycle Files Trademark Lawsuit Against adidas

Charity Files Suit Over Promotion Of Missy Elliott Clothing Line

California-based charity group Break the Cycle filed a $10M trademark lawsuit in federal court in N.Y. Thursday against adidas-Salomon, claiming that adidas “improperly used its logo to promote a line of clothing designed by rapper Missy Elliott,” according to Chad Bray of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES. Break the Cycle, which promotes efforts to end domestic violence, claims that adidas used its trademark to “promote the Respect ME clothing line on its Web site and on clothing tags that indicated ‘a portion of the proceeds would be donated to the charity’ without its permission.” Break the Cycle said that it never reached a licensing agreement with adidas and that the company has “continued to improperly use its logo as recently as February despite receiving a cease-and-desist letter in November.” The charity believes adidas has more than $100M in gross sales of the clothing line since it was launched in ’04. The suit also names adidas’ North American and U.S. units as defendants (DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, 3/16).