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LA Clippers Rumors: Kawhi Leonard’s Battle With Nike Continues

By Ryan Snellings

OAKLAND, CA - JUNE 13: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors looks on during Game Six of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors on June 13, 2019 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - JUNE 13: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors looks on during Game Six of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors on June 13, 2019 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Kawhi Leonard may have his on the court stuff figured out, but the LA Clippers’ superstar is having continued off the court problems with Nike.

He won the NBA Finals. His free agency decision has been made. He’s inked to a deal with New Balance for years to come. However, despite all this positivity in his life, Kawhi Leonard’s battle with Nike rages on.

Back in June, Leonard sued Nike over his personal logo, something Nike still claims the rights to. Kawhi wants it back and claimed in the lawsuit that he was unaware that Nike had filed a trademark on the logo. He also claims that he designed the logo and that Nike falsely claimed they designed it to the copyright office.

You may have also heard, that at one point this summer, LA Clippers’ owner Steve Ballmer tried to purchase the logo back from Nike in order to gift it to Leonard, should he end up choosing the Clippers in free agency. He did end up with the Clips, but Ballmer was unsuccessful in buying the logo.

Now, Nike is coming back at Kawhi. According to a new report by TMZ, “Nike is countersuing for copyright infringement, fraud and breach of contract — and they’re looking for a judge to stop Kawhi from using the design. They also want unspecified monetary damages.”

The TMZ argument also shows Leonard’s original design for the logo, (Seriously, go check out that logo because I’m 99.9% sure Kawhi just traced his hand and mailed it to Nike.) which Nike did admit they received. They are stating though that the version they eventually finalized and put on merchandise was different from that original design.

There’s no telling who will win this lawsuit and have the rights to the Klaw logo. I even posed the question to our own contributor and lawyer, Randi Geffner, but since she does not focus on copyright law, she said her guess was as good as ours. Hopefully it isn’t dragged out though and Kawhi can turn all of his focus back to basketball.

Next. Ranking the LA Clippers Five Best Players. dark

We’ll keep following along with this saga, so make sure you stay tuned to our Twitter for all of your LA Clippers news and rumors!

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