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Injuction Mandates Gordon
Remove Logo From Car |
U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford issued an injunction Thursday in favor of Specialized Bicycle Components, which claims that NASCAR driver Robby Gordon's "S" logo for his Speed Energy drink "would create confusion" with the company's logo, according to Bob Pockrass of SCENEDAILY.com. The court order could cost Gordon "millions of dollars at a time when he’s trying to raise money to continue his Sprint Cup team." The injunction "will keep Gordon from selling product that features [the] logo and from using the logo on his race cars, including his Robby Gordon Motorsports Sprint Cup car." The injunction "did not specify when the logos must be removed or when products with those logos must be removed from the marketplace." Court filings stated that Gordon "had more than 2.4 million cans of the energy drink produced with the Speed logo with nearly 1.2 million ready for sale." The filings also indicated that Speed Energy is "committed to sell more than 1.8 million cans through already negotiated distribution agreements. The one-time production costs for those cans is "more than $1.1 million." Gordon's court filing claimed that the cans cannot be relabeled and it "would take at least 90 days to create a new logo and make new cans." Guilford indicated that Specialized "likely would win the lawsuit." Pockrass noted Gordon "sued Specialized after receiving a cease-and-desist letter in September and then Specialized countersued Gordon." The judge ruled that because Specialized has "so much equity in the logo it has used for 28 years that allowing Gordon to use his logo while going through the legal process could cause so much damage to Specialized that no amount of money could cover it" (SCENEDAILY.com, 11/18).
