American sportswear firm Pony have accused Nike of infringing on its trademarked chevron logo in Nike’s V for Victory campaign.
Sportswear firms spend fortunes on developing their brand and signature logo’s. Adidas - three stripes, Nike - tick, Puma - cat et, Footy-Boots.com, err football boot.
Brands vehemently protect their signature logo’s, as in the case of Pony who seem to have kicked out with their hind legs at Nike over a recent marketing campaign.
American sportswear brand Pony, use a chevron, or V as their logo. Back in the 90’s you may have seen their logo on a Spurs, West Ham or Southampton shirt when Pony invested in football.
Pony have taken umbrage to Nike’s recent use of a V in a campaign that features footballers Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin, Joe Cole, Claude Makalele and Didier Drogba. The campaign was to promote a jacket that featured a chevron design and the players who featured in the publicity shots made V signs at the camera.
As a result, Pony complain that Nike campaign imitates the chevron logo seen on Pony shoes and other products. Pony are seeking unspecified damages.
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April 8th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Isn’t this he same sort of design that is going to be on the new Man Utd jersey for next season?? Bet ‘Pony’ will love that.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
stupid pony SHUT UP
April 9th, 2009 at 4:00 am
This is a pathetic attempt from Pony to try to collect some money. Think about it: if you were presented with two items, one with a Pony logo and one with a Nike logo, which one would a casual athlete (or not) choose? Most of the time the item with the Nike logo. So if Nike were actually trying to imitate Pony and “cash” in on their so called success, I am certain the value would actually go down. Besides, the logo don’t even look alike. One is a even “V” and the other one is basically a check mark with “Pony” above it. Ridiculous.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
pony is right
nike had done same thing in nike 5,
2 years after release of adidas 5 in basketball.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:10 am
they did the same for the mexico jersey for the 2006 Germany fifa world cup.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Had the Nike campaign continued Pony might even have seen a boost in sales. However, if a trademark owner does not act to defend their mark when they have reason to do so then they lose the right to defend against future infringements. So, Pony was forced to take legal action in this case or forfeit future defensibility of their logo trademark.
A cynic might even suspect that the whole thing was a scheme concocted by Nike to waste a smaller competitor’s money on legal expenses, counting on the fact that Nike could drop the campaign at any time (as the have) without much fear that Pony would spend further to pursue a tortuous interference counter claim.