SEPTEMBER 2020

DEVOTED TO LEADERS IN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY

VOLUME 40 NUMBER 8 THE LicensingJournal ® Edited by Gregory J. Battersby and Charles W. Grimes Trademark Licensing it will be interesting to see how they attempt to justify their con- Daniel P. Goldberger duct and otherwise respond to the allegations. The recent lawsuits are not the first lawsuits Antetokounmpo has The Greek Bucks. That mark has filed to protect his rights. Last been approved for registration year, he filed a similar trademark Freak Flexes and, with no oppositions having infringement lawsuit against an His Trademark been filed, will likely be registered artist (Antetokounmpo v. Bhogal, soon. No. 19-cv-6304) who was sell- Muscles The current S.D.N.Y. lawsuits— ing clothing bearing the GREEK Antetokounmpo v. Hill et al., (No. FREAK mark and using GREEK NBA superstar and reign- 1:20-cv-3530); Antetokounmpo FREAK as the name of a clothing ing NBA MVP Giannis v. Dickson, (No. 1:20-cv-3572); collection. That case settled late Antetokounmpo recently filed a Antetokounmpo v. Dimoulis, (No. last year, about a month after it series of trademark infringement 1:20-cv-3575); Antetokounmpo v. was filed, and before the defen- lawsuits in the Southern District SportsMarketUSA Corp. et al., (No. dant answered. Similarly, earlier of New York against online retail- 1:20-cv-3615); Antetokounmpo v. this year, Antetokounmpo filed ers and their operators. In the Jones et al., (No. 1:20-cv-3669); another trademark infringement lawsuits, Antetokounmpo claims Antetokounmpo v. Settleman case, this time against a com- that the retailers were selling mer- et al., (No.1:20-cv-3670); and pany selling mobile phone cases chandise bearing his nickname— Giannis Antetokounmpo v. Steve containing his GREEK FREAK the Greek Freak—along with his Jones; Katherine B Jones (No. mark (Antetokounmpo v. Sportz likeness. 1:20 cv 4010); and Giannis Cases, LLC, 20-cv-1392). That case Over the past several years, as Antetokounmpo v. Bryant appears to have settled, as well, as Antetokounmpo rose to NBA star- Yarborough dba Bonafide Icon it was voluntarily dismissed ear- dom, he began building a brand, (No. 1:20 cv 4060)—all make lier this year. with himself as the centerpiece. the same fundamental allega- One takeaway from all Antetokounmpo, who was born tions: the defendants were sell- the lawsuits that he has filed: in , filed for, and obtained, ing merchandise online bearing Antetokounmpo defends his a trademark for GREEK FREAK, Antetokounmpo’s name, nick- trademark rights as aggressively and began selling merchandise name and/or likeness and they as he defends his opponents on bearing that mark and his like- refused to cooperate after receiv- the court. ness. In the recent complaints he ing cease and desist letters from filed, he claims to have sold “tens Antetokounmpo. Dan Goldberger is the head of of thousands of dollars” of prod- In addition to bringing infringe- Dorsey & Whitney LLP’s New uct bearing the GREEK FREAK ment and related claims under York office and a partner in its mark and has licensed his “name/ the Lanham Act, Antetokounmpo Trial Group. As a litigator, Dan nickname and/or likeness to vari- alleged several state law claims represents clients in commercial ous brands and campaigns.” He (in total, each complaint con- and IP disputes in federal court, has also sought to register a varia- tains 13 causes of action) and state court, as well as private tion of the mark, GREEK FR34K, seeks both injunctive relief and arbitration. Dan is also a regu- which replaces the “ea” in Freak monetary damages. None of the lar author on Dorsey’s IP blog, with 34, his jersey number for the defendants has answered yet, and TheTMCA.com.

SEPTEMBER 2020 The Licensing Journal 1 Copyright © 2020 CCH Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from The Licensing Journal, September 2020, Volume 40, Number 8, page 22, with permission from Wolters Kluwer, New York, NY, 1-800-638-8437, www.WoltersKluwerLR.com