DALLAS, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Drinnon Law Firm is announcing a federal trademark and copyright lawsuit against Adidas AG (BULLETIN BOARD: ADDYY) and the NBA Store, charging that the company's "We Not Me" national multimedia advertising campaign violates an active and long-held trademark and copyright.
W. Brand Bobosky registered his ownership of the "We Not Me" copyright and trademark several years before Adidas initiated its advertising campaign in 2007. In addition to his advertising, marketing and publishing activities as an independent businessman, Mr. Bobosky, a Naperville, Ill., community leader, authorized the limited use of "We Not Me" for community-development activities. He also incorporated We Not Me, Ltd., through the state of Illinois and created the Web site, http://www.wenotme.us/, in 2004.
Adidas misappropriated "We Not Me" as the centerpiece for its national advertising campaign beginning in Oct. 2007, according to the lawsuit. The multimillion dollar television and multimedia advertisements featured NBA MVP Kevin Garnett and included exposure during the World Series and NBA playoffs. Additionally, Adidas saturated the Internet with video commercials featuring the trademarked words, which can still be seen at http://www.adidas.com/.
Stephen Drinnon of The Drinnon Law Firm in Dallas says the media campaign grew after Mr. Bobosky notified Adidas of his property rights to "We Not Me," and NBA-sanctioned clothing featuring Mr. Bobosky's protected words can still be purchased. Adidas is an official clothing provider of the NBA.
"Companies like Adidas go to great lengths to protect their own ingenuity and intellectual property, yet they've chosen to trample on Mr. Bobosky's protected property rights," Drinnon says. "Adidas is a powerful second-comer that has taken everything he tried to build. Mr. Bobosky's words are now wrongly perceived as something that Adidas owns."
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, also names as defendants Adidas America, NBA Properties Inc., NBA Services Inc., the Boston Celtics, and Kevin Garnett.
The Drinnon Law Firm represents individuals and businesses in a broad range of cases, including commercial disputes, trademark infringement, employment discrimination, personal injury and products liability. More information is available at http://www.drinnonlaw.com/.
For more information about this case or to speak with Mr. Drinnon, please call Robert Tharp at 800-559-4534 or Robert@androvett.com.
The Drinnon Law Firm
CONTACT: Robert Tharp of The Drinnon Law Firm, 1-800-559-4534,
Robert@androvett.com
Web Site: http://www.drinnonlaw.com/
http://www.wenotme.us/
http://www.adidas.com/
