Michael Jordan is suing NC-based Fountain Powerboats
for $10M, "claiming he suffered damages from the company's
unauthorized use of his name" in magazine ads from March '95
to March '96, according to Rick Dorsey of the Raleigh NEWS &
OBSERVER. Ads promoting Fountain Powerboats included the
sentences, "Move over Michael Jordan. Reggie Fountain is
flying high," referring to the company CEO. Another part of
the ad refers to Fountain as "Air Reggie." While Jordan
plans to go to court to stop the ad, Dorsey adds he wants to
"keep his finances a secret." Dorsey: "[T]o show what his
name is worth, Jordan is likely to have to produce his tax
records and endorsement contracts. And that's information
he doesn't want made public." While Fountain attorney
Kenneth Wooten "wants to study Jordan's tax returns and
endorsement contracts ... Jordan and his attorneys have
refused." Jordan's lawyers are "asking the court for a
protective order to declare all of Jordan's pertinent
financial documents confidential and have them sealed in the
court record." This issue "could be settled this fall,"
with a possible trial date of next summer. Jordan's agent,
David Falk declined comment (NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/1).
