Business and Tax Lawyer Blog

In the wake of the New Orleans Saints' recent Super Bowl victory, a new battle has begun. This intellectual property contest will take place in the courtroom instead of on the football field, however, and involves two athletic apparel producers and the phrase "Finish Strong."

Finish Strong, LLC, claims that Reebok International Ltd. is infringing on its trademark by illegally using the phrase in a line of T-shirts (pictured here) that promote the Super Bowl victors and proclaim, "We Finish Strong! We Are Saints." Trademark infringement exists when one party has a registered trademark and another party uses a similar mark with products in such a way that consumers are confused as to the products' origin. Finish Strong, for example, may argue that Reebok's use of the phrase on T-shirts may lead customers to believe the shirts are distributed by Finish Strong instead of Reebok. A suit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on February 25th demands Reebok to stop using the phrase on merchandise. The suit also requests all profits from shirt sales plus other damages.

Finish Strong registered the trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1998 and markets various athletic products bearing the phrase.

During the 2009 football season, Saints' quarterback Drew Brees used the slogan to motivate teammates before games. Brees also sold T-shirts with the phrase for the Brees Dream Foundation, a charity supporting cancer research and providing for children in need. He is not a party to the lawsuit, however, because his use of the phrase is pursuant to a licensing agreement and therefore legal.

At this point, it is unclear how the conflict will turn out. Reebok has not legally responded to the claim, but has remarked that it did not know about the company and that the phrase is used only to "describe the Saints' style of play." Whether this would be a viable defense is up to the court, however, the standard for trademark infringement is the likelihood of confusion. Stay tuned for updates.