Getty Images / Cool Brands Supply
The LIV Golf Court’s battle with the PGA Tour may be moot with the organizations partnership pending, but the new league now faces yet another legal threat related to one of its team’s logos.
In a federal lawsuit filed late last week in the US District Court of New Jersey, Cool Brands Supply, an Argentinian lifestyle and skateboard company, accused Phil Mickelson HyFlyers GC and LIV Golf of using a “fake logo” for its Fallen Footwear line.
Mickelson is the captain of the HyFlyers — which also consists of Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale and 2021 U.S. Amateur Champion James Piot — and reportedly has approximately 25 percent of the team’s shares.
Attorneys for Cool Brands Supply wrote in the complaint that the company has used consecutive F logos since 2003. They said LIV has used the logo on merchandise ranging from hats to T-shirts and sweatshirts. After losing many of his sponsors in the fallout from his incendiary comments to biographer Alan Shipnock, Mickelson only wears the HyFlyers logo in competition, including at the 2023 Masters where he tied for second.
“The similarities between the two marks, particularly when used on apparel, are striking, confuse consumers and cause harm to Plaintiff’s trademark and trademark,” attorneys for Cool Brands Supply wrote in the complaint. “The plaintiff previously demanded that the defendants stop using their offending logo, but they refused.”
Mickelson is set to compete at the US Open in Los Angeles this week but is not currently on the pre-tournament interview schedule.
The six-time Grand Prix winner was initially the lead plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit involving 11 LIV Golf members against the PGA Tour. All golfers eventually withdrew, but LIV Golf was added as a later plaintiff and subject of anti-attire by the PGA Tour.
All pending lawsuits between the PGA Tour and LIV as a condition of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and surprise agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to merge their business operations into a new entity were terminated last week.