Kawhi Leonard is taking Nike to court as the Toronto Raptors star has filed a lawsuit against the apparel giant over the use of his ‘Klaw’ logo which Leonard says he designed himself back in 2011.
According to reports, Leonard permitted Nike to use the logo after he signed an endorsement deal with them back in 2011 apparently as long as it was ‘mutually beneficial’ to both parties. However, somewhere between 2011 and 2018 when Leonard’s endorsement deal ended, Nike took steps to copyright the logo, allegedly without the Star’s knowledge or consent to do so.
Interestingly enough the Los Angeles Clippers, who are rumored to be all in on signing Leonard this offseason attempted to buy the rights of the logo from Nike.
Anyways, Leonard is suing for the rights to the logo which he says is a tracing of his hand made up by the ‘K’ and ‘L’ of his initials along with his jersey number ‘2’.
Leonard had previously signed an endorsement deal with Nike from 2011 to 2018 when an extension with the Company broke down. The Raptors forward has since signed a deal with New Balance.
