USA’s Tiger Woods lines up a putt on the 2nd during day two of The Open at Royal Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Picture date: Friday July 19, 2024.
Jane Barlow | PA Images | Getty Images
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.
In a subsequent court filing, Woods’ legal team sued Tigeraire, accusing the company of trying to capitalize off Sun Day Red’s status as a bigger brand. Sun Day Red has filed a motion to dismiss the patent claim.
“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.
Applicant’s Marks and the Registered Mark.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
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.
A representative for Woods and TaylorMade declined to comment on the matter.
Tigeraire says its logo and name pays tribute to the company’s collaboration with Louisiana State University. The company, founded in Baton Rouge, partnered with the university’s football team in 2020 to help provide cooling relief for its players.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, more than a week after the Sun Day Red lawsuit was filed, Tigeraire said the brand and logo are personal.
“To have a foreign, private equity firm sue us for enforcing this right and then claim we are just after a payday is insulting to every single person at our small company working to deliver quality products that improve the lives of our customers,” said Tigeraire CEO Jack Karavich in the statement.
A detail of hats and a club cover during the launch of Tiger Woods and TaylorMade Golf’s new apparel and footwear brand “Sun Day Red” at Palisades Village on February 12, 2024 in Pacific Palisades, California.
Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben called the lawsuit an “aggressive response” to the trademark dispute.
He noted bringing a case to federal court makes the matter much for expensive for a smaller company like Tigeraire.
“A lot of time these cases favor the party with the resources to litigate, and that can make it a challenge,” Gerben said.
Sun Day Red was launched in May after Woods ended his 27-year partnership with Nike.
The brand’s name pays homage to the fact that Woods always wears red on Sundays, and the logo is a tribute to the 15 majors he’s won over the course of his career, Woods said previously.
