The Drinnon Law Firm Announces Copyright, Trademark Lawsuit Over Adidas' 'We Not Me' Advertising Campaign
05 Octubre 2009 - 4:03PM
PR Newswire (US)
DALLAS, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Drinnon Law Firm is announcing a
federal trademark and copyright lawsuit against Adidas AG (OTC:
ADDYY) (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 . DATASOURCE: The Drinnon Law
Firm CONTACT: Robert Tharp of The Drinnon Law Firm, 1-800-559-4534,
Web Site: http://www.drinnonlaw.com/ http://www.wenotme.us/
http://www.adidas.com/
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