A lawsuit has erupted in the States, alleging that drinks manufacturer Prime Hydration has infringed US Olympic trade marks. Thrings’ Parter Megan Jefferies looks at how this shows even the most popular companies of the moment need to be more careful with their advertising.
What happened?
One of the biggest sporting spectacles on Earth, The Olympic Games, is only days away and gold fever is once again set to take the world by storm – not just in the world of sport but business, with billions up for grabs in an array of commercial opportunities.
Whether advertising as a partner of the games themselves, or alongside a particular country, brands can really benefit from Olympic advertising, with market research of past games having shown campaigns to retain a 49 per cent increase in brand loyalty and 54 per cent increase in brand differentiation – this however comes at a premium.
So, when Prime Hydration, the drinks company owned by Youtubers Logan Paul and KSI, launched new advertising that seemingly infringed the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) trade marks, a lawsuit was almost inevitable.
The lawsuit, which uses already trade marked symbols and phrases on a drinks bottle with references to Olympic gold medallist basketball player Kevin Durant, claims Prime’s acts were “willful, deliberate, and in bad faith” with no prior agreement having been made between the two organisations.
Protecting your brand
If your brand owns any intellectual property, there is always a risk that someone will be looking to violate it. To avoid this happening to you, there are a number of options to consider:
- Monitor the market: Keep an eye on what other businesses are doing - What their new logo looks like? Does their slogan sound familiar? – Even the subtlest of changes can infringe so be vigilant if you don’t want to be copied. For the bigger brands of the world like Coca Cola or Nike, they are likely to have internal teams carrying out this surveillance but for smaller and medium-sized businesses, this can be more laborious, but this monitoring of market activities and trade marks registries can be carried out by brand agencies and legal experts respectively.
- Cease-and-Desist: An initial stage of legal intervention generally drafted by lawyers, the Cease-and-Desist letter gives those infringing your IP the chance to withdraw their activities and products to avoid any further action, giving those that might not have been aware of their mistake the opportunity to pull the plug early on. This however is not always successful as the USOPC found when they issued a letter to Prime that we understand went ignored.
- Take legal action: If the infringement persists, as with the Olympic case, the most common intervention will be a lawsuit claiming damages and an order to prevent continued infringement and/or an injunction that seeks to prevent continued abuse of the trade marks. In certain circumstances it may also be appropriate to apply to oppose conflicting trade mark applications or invalidate existing trade mark registrations.
Thrings’ Intellectual Property lawyers are experienced in safeguarding brands and trade marks from infringement and have successfully advised multinational organisations on a range of matters from IP disputes, including copyright infringement, and trade mark registration to managing diverse portfolios and worldwide expansions. To find out how they can help protect your IP rights, get in touch.
