In Baltimore, Chris Korman noted Under Armour last Thursday filed a lawsuit against Nike over use of its trademark phrase “I Will.” While Nike has “deep pockets to defend itself, observers say Under Armour has a chance to make its case and force Nike to pull the offending ads.” Whatever happens in court, it “represents a confident right hook aimed at Nike.” IP attorney Jim Astrachan said, "There's no way in the world a company like Nike, which is actually a branding company, didn't know that a competitor had the slogan 'I Will.’ Nike knew what it was doing. This is not an accident” (Baltimore SUN, 2/23).
NOT SO FAST: In Texas, Michelle Keahey noted Texas A&M QB and ’12 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel has “filed a lawsuit claiming an individual is infringing on his trademark ‘Johnny Football’ nickname in order to sell shirts.” JMAN2 Enterprises LLC “filed suit against Eric Vaughan on Feb. 15 in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.” Manziel in November “discovered that the defendant was using his trademark to sell shirts,” which stated “Keep Calm and Johnny Football” (SETEXASRECORD.com, 2/22).
ROUNDUP: DAILY VARIETY’s Cynthia Littleton noted Dish Network's Hopper DVR service was “emblazoned on Leavine Family Racing's No. 95 Dish Ford Fusion, piloted by Scott Speed” during yesterday's Daytona 500. NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC have “sued Dish in an effort to halt aspects of the Hopper, including a function that allows viewers to remove commercial breaks from recorded programming and the option of recording large blocks of primetime programming en masse” (VARIETY.com, 2/23)….MARKETING magazine’s Ben Bold reported Santander bank has signed a deal with Gold Medal-winning British heptathlete Jessica Ennis, who will "become the first female face of the U.K. brand in its upcoming TV advertising campaign" (MARKETINGMAGAZINE.co.uk, 2/22).
