Whether or not the NBA’s Toronto Raptors take home the league championship after tonight’s basketball game, the team still faces a court battle of a very different kind.
Monster Energy, makers of a well-known sports drink, says the team’s logo of a clawed-up basketball is too similar to theirs.
The drink company has been fighting with the Raptors over the image before the U.S. Patent Office’s trial and appeal board since 2015.
That was almost right after Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Raptors, registered the new design.
LISTEN: Kelly Cutrara discusses the case from Customer Experience Expert Marc Gordon
Monster has filed similar complaints in Canada and as far afield as Peru.
U.S. patent lawyer Josh Gerben says there is a small chance the Raptors could lose the right to the popular logo.