Tiger Woods thought he scored a hole-in-one after ending his 27-year partnership with Nike (NKE) in January to develop his own golfing apparel brand.
In February, a month after ending his previous long-lived partnership, Tiger Woods announced his new partnership with TaylorMade Golf Company, Inc. to release an apparel and accessories line for golfers.
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After designing the apparel and some strategic planning, Woods officially unveiled Sun Day Red in May. The brand features a wide range of products available for fans to purchase, with a signature logo on every item.
Woods is regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He has won 82 PGA Tour events and 15 men's major golf championships, to name a few of his accomplishments.
With so many accolades and millions of loyal fans, it is a no-brainer for such a renowned golfer to develop his own golfing apparel and accessories line as his next career move.
However, the hype didn't last long for Woods; the golfer now faces accusations of "hijacking" one of the most important marketing distinguishers a brand could have.
Trademark dispute over alleged 'hijacked' logo
Tiger Woods is facing a trademark dispute over the new logo for his golf apparel line, Sun Day Red.
On Wednesday, Tigeraire filed a notice of opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claiming that Tiger Woods and Sun Day Red stole its design to create a very similar logo to brand Wood's apparel line.
Tigeraire is a Louisiana-founded company that develops apparel and advanced technology cooling systems for football helmets, athletes, and active people. The company is most famous for its partnership with LSU to develop an innovative cooling helmet for the football team with its Air Accelerator® technology.
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Tigeraire's logo has been trademarked since August 2020 and covers all goods in class 11, which include “air-conditioning, air cooling and ventilation apparatus and instruments; electric fans; electric fans for personal use; wearable electric fans; portable electric fans.”
However, after adding polos and t-shirts to its selection, the company expanded the use of its trademark to apparel.
The infamous trademarked tiger logo that fueled the dispute
Tigeraire's trademarked design consists of an outlined leaping tiger, which is very similar to the logo used in Sun Day Red's marketing.
According to the filing, Tigeraire claims that Woods and TaylorMade heavily leveraged their renowned names, media power, and money to promote and market the logo, eventually leading fans to associate the "hijacked" logo with Sun Day Red.
Tigeraire argues that it is not as capable of reaching that broad of an audience in such a short amount of time since it lacks the same connections as the celebrity golfer.
The company also argues that using an almost identical logo causes the public to believe that Tigeraire's products are affiliated or associated with Wood's brand despite being in the apparel and accessories business longer.
Additionally, Tigeraire claims that if Wood's trademark is passed, it will harm its reputation by tarnishing the multiple years of hard work it took the company to make a name for itself.
Tigeraire also expressed concerns that if Wood's trademark request gets approved, it would potentially deny their use of its longer-standing logo due to the power of Wood's persona.
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The filing gives Woods and Sun Day Red 40 days to respond to the notice, but in the meantime, it could halt Wood's trademark filing for his brand's logo.
Sun Day Red declined to comment for this story.
Tigeraire's Founder and CEO, Jack L. Karavich, replied to our request for comment, saying that his company had been in contact with Sun Day Red for months before its official launch, but its efforts to have them "work with us on a royalty structure" have gone nowhere.
Instead, Sun Day Red and TaylorMade have tried, on multiple occasions, to get Tigeraire to sign a "coexistence clause" that would effectively make their federal trademark useless, according to its CEO.
"Obviously, we would have preferred to partner with TaylorMade and Sun Day Red, rather than get into a fight with a goliath like them. But that doesn't mean we're going to back down," Karavich told TheStreet while describing his company as a "little tech startup."
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