LIV Golf recently made an attempt to register trademarks but was blocked and subsequently countersued, according to renowned trademark attorney, Josh Gerben.
The Saudi backed sportswashing golf tour has had its fair share of controversy ever since it launched and made its American television debut on the CW to miniscule ratings last month. The trademark dispute is yet another difficult spot the upstart league is going to have to sort through.
Gerben tweeted the major development on Tuesday morning through a thread on his official Twitter account. He reported that David Grutman, the owner of the famed LIV nightclub in Miami, filed a lawsuit against the golf tour in order to oppose their applications.
LIV Golf's attempt to register its trademarks has been blocked.
The owner of the famous Miami-based nightclub, LIV, has filed a court action to oppose LIV Golf's trademark applications.
A thread 🧵#LIVGolf #OnlyatLIV pic.twitter.com/wKRZEPFNI3
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) March 14, 2023
“In court filings, @LIVmiami claims that LIV Golf’s trademarks should not be registered because the trademarks are: are visually similar, are phonetically and aurally similar, share similar goods/services,” Gerben tweeted.
In court filings, @LIVmiami claims that LIV Golf's trademarks should not be registered because the trademarks are:
➡️ are visually similar
➡️ are phonetically and aurally similar
➡️ share similar goods/services
[3/8] pic.twitter.com/40GgjWKdS3
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) March 14, 2023
In essence, as Gerben went on to tweet, LIV fully believes people will conflate the two entities together.
“The court filing concludes that:
- Consumers will believe the LIV Golf trademarks are affiliated with or endorsed by @LIVmiami.
- The registration of the LIV Golf trademarks will dilute the distinctive quality of the @LIVmiami trademarks.”
The court filing concludes that:
1️⃣ consumers will believe the LIV Golf trademarks are affiliated with or endorsed by @LIVmiami.
2️⃣the registration of the LIV Golf trademarks will dilute the distinctive quality of the @LIVmiami
trademarks.[6/8] pic.twitter.com/VFGnGryA0L
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) March 14, 2023
This is a fascinating trademark case, to say the least. It does appear difficult to argue against the fact that the two aren’t dissimilar. As reporter Darren Heitner pointed out, the ownership has made these legal moves before against other companies. He named three in particular, so LIV Golf would just be another walk in the park.
Gerben joked at the conclusion of the thread that some in the PGA Tour could be cheering LIV on. Considering the hostilities between the two sides, it’s not a farfetched thought at all. And it would certainly be ironic after all their legal wrangling with the PGA Tour if it was a nightclub that threw a wrench in their takeover plans for the sport of golf.
