A youth organization has accused basketball great LeBron James of stealing his “More Than An Athlete” slogan from them, and they are suing for $33 million.
The organization, the Maryland-based Game Plan, is a nonprofit that works with young athletes, and they claim to have used the slogan, “I Am More Than an Athlete,” since 2016. The group also trademarked the phrase in 2018.
But the group claims that James essentially stole their trademarked phrase for his Uninterrupted brand, and they have filed suit to prove it, TMZ reported.
The group says that James spied their slogan on the shirts of their volunteers at a Cleveland Cavaliers-Washington Wizards game in 2017.
“The attendance at the game gave Game Plan tremendous exposure, as it was able to gain attention from John Wall in front of his peers, including the (arguably) most famous athlete in the world, as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, at the time, LeBron James.”
James, they say, began using their slogan in 2018 when he was squabbling with TV talk show host Laura Ingraham. At the time, James posted an image with the Game Plan slogan in neon lights to social media.
Since then, James has monetized the slogan with Nike, ESPN, and even a video game. And Game Plan is suing James’ Uninterrupted, Nike, Disney, and the video game maker Take-Two Interactive Software.
For his part, James’ Uninterrupted representatives have responded, calling the lawsuit “meritless.”
“The complaint filed by Game Plan today is meritless and contains numerous factual inaccuracies,” Uninterrupted said on Thursday. “Uninterrupted owns prior rights in and to the ‘More Than An Athlete’ trademark.”
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