A rocky start for Tiger Woods' new brand Sun Day Red is getting rockier as sporting giants Puma have filed an opposition notice over the logo.
Golf's Big Cat is now facing opposition from Puma's Leaping Cat logo which the company has used for 56 years and says has too close a resemblance to Tiger's new motif.
Puma cited a "confusing similarity of the marks" in a January 2nd filing that stops Woods' attempt to trademark the tiger logo of his Sun Day Red brand, which has been brought to market in association with TaylorMade.
It's a second legal headache for Woods and Sun Day Red, with the company also involved in litigation with cooling company Tigeraire over the similarities with its logo.
Puma's legal filing states: “Due to the confusing similarity of the marks and the identical, legally identical, or closely related nature of the goods and services of the parties, consumer confusion is likely between the Challenged Marks and the Leaping Cat logo."
Woods launched his Sun Day Red brand last February after ending his 27-year association with Nike, but he's having serious issues trying to get his logo trademark through.
On its part, TaylorMade told CNBC that it feels “very confident in our trademarks and logos.”
Obviousy Woods was going to use a tiger design, with the Sun Day Red logo consisting of 15 lines he says represents his 15 Major championship victories.
Cooling product company Tigeraire originally filed an opposition notice to the US Patent and Trademark Office in late September which claimed Sun Day Red had "unlawfully hijacked" its logo.
Woods has responded by "reluctantly" opting to sue the Louisiana-based firm itself and that matter is now being played out in court.
That case is one thing, but also having a sporting giant such as Puma getting involved in legal battles will be an even bigger barrier for Woods to get over as he tries to make a successful splash into the sportswear scene.
Being such a huge name like Tiger Woods though was always going to make the company a target, and it remains to be seen how both he and TaylorMade will handle things going forward.
For now, Woods was wearing his Sun Day Red logo during the launch of the TGL hi-tech golf league he's front alongside Rory McIlroy.
