Tiger Woods’ apparel company Sun Day Red sued Tigeraire in federal court. Tigeraire claims that Sun Day Red’s logo is too similar to its own. Trademark attorney Josh Gerben said the escalation could lead to costly litigation.
A logo dispute between Tiger Woods’ apparel company Sun Day Red and Tigeraire, a company that makes cooling products for athletes, is now in the hands of the federal court system.
Last week, Tigeraire filed a notice of opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Sun Day Red’s Tiger logo, saying the golf legend’s company “unlawfully hijacked” Tigeraire’s design into its own branding.
“This case, unfortunately, presents the time-worn circumstance of an opportunistic, misguided business attempting to extract an unwarranted financial windfall from a larger and more successful brand, based on threats of legal action and demands for exorbitant sums,” the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Sun Day Red says it has attempted in good faith to resolve the infringement claims though negotiation and that Tigeraire has sent “outrageous monetary demands” to Sun Day Red, which is owned by TaylorMade.
The suit also says Tigeraire recently started attending golf tournaments and changed its website’s homepage to prominently feature golfers in an attempt to demonstrate market overlap.
Tigeraire did not immediately respond to request for comment on the lawsuit. A representative for Woods and TaylorMade declined to comment on the matter.
