After a year of bad press with Kanye West, Adidas is clear it doesn’t want any issues with Black people.
It all comes down to the stripes.
Back in 2020, after George Floyd’s death (and the protests it sparked) made headlines, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation applied to trademark two designs. The designs, according to the two applications, would be for campaigning and fundraising purposes.
One of the designs consisted of the words “Black Lives Matter” on top of three yellow stripes.
The other design was only the three yellow stripes. This would also be used for merchandise.
For almost 75 years, Adidas has been rocking three stripes as a logo.
On Monday, March 27, once made aware of the trademark application believed it was “confusingly similar” and probably cause “confusion, deception, or mistake as to the affiliation” with their consumer.
Adidas, arguing it owns the “Three-Stripe Mark,” filed an opposition to the second application for merchandise.
Adidas has taken court action to block a trademark filed by Black Lives Matter for its "Three-Stripe" logo.
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) March 28, 2023
Per the court filings made on March 27th, Adidas claims the Black Lives Matter stripes are too similar to its own.
A thread 🧵#adidas #BlackLivesMatter #BLM pic.twitter.com/S4b5YFXRdh
However, on Wednesday, March 29, according to the Washington Post, the brand doubled back on its trademark dispute with the U.S. government, saying, “Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s trademark application as soon as possible.”
Experts believe they didn’t want the smoke.
Phillip Johnson, a professor of commercial law at Cardiff University, said, the decision to withdraw was most likely “for reputational management reasons” not because they thought they might lose and weren’t in the right.