Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo recently filed a trademark lawsuit seeking for $2 million in damages. As it turns out, this was far from the only one filed by Giannis' camp. As a matter of fact, the reigning league MVP has filed 13 trademark lawsuits over the past year related to his “Greek Freak” brand.
Josh Gerben is an expert in intellectual property law and the founder of his own Washington-based law firm that specializes in the same, and he recently spoke to Bill Shea of The Athletic to try and shed some light into why the Bucks star is exerting so much effort in trying to protect his brand.
“You have a decision to make. Do you let the market flood with goods that could devalue your brand? Or protect it? He’s working super hard to build a brand around himself. Anybody in his position, I don’t think he’s being unreasonable in saying, ‘You can’t use my stuff,’” said Gerben.
Gerben then went on to explain that in this day and age, the Bucks stud and his camp are not only in the right in their current pursuit, but that from a legal perspective, they're actually going about it in the proper way by constantly staying vigilant.
“There’s a duty to police a trademark that a trademark owner has,” Gerben said. “You cannot just let people use it all the time and then show up years later to protect it. You have to have this ongoing policing effort behind your trademark. Otherwise, you lose the ability to do so.”
Antetokounmpo is one of the biggest names in the NBA today, and at just 25, his star continues to rise. Not only is it the Bucks star's right to protect what is rightfully is — it is actually his duty to do so.
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