It could be a case of David versus Goliath.
The owner of an Ottawa yoga studio claims rising American reality stars may have swiped her logo and she’s willing to take them to court to protect her brand.
“My jaw dropped,” says Hana Engel the owner of Modern Body yoga studio on Carling Avenue in west-Ottawa, after she took her first look at the new Melo Ball 1 shoes.
The Melo Ball 1’s are the first signature shoe of 16-year-old LaMelo Ball. The rising basketball star is the youngest of the LaVar Ball’s three sons. His older brother Lonzo is a rookie with the Los Angeles Lakers, LiAngelo a freshman with UCLA.
LaVar is the founder and CEO of apparel company Big Baller Brand, the company behind the MB1’s.
Engel says the MB1 logo is near identical to her yoga studio’s MB logo. Engel started the trademark copyright process in 2014, with a full license in Canada in April of this year. She’s still awaiting approval in the U.S.
“I don’t want it to be, ‘oh she’s a little yoga studio in Ottawa Canada, who cares we can get away with this’, it’s my logo and I protected it for a reason,” Engel says.
The shoes are sold for $400US and are available in Canada.
Engel has had her copyright lawyer, Scott Miller send Big Baller Brand a letter to warn them to comply with the copyright law.
The letter states, “Any use of the Big Baller Mark in Canada by your client will be considered an infringement of our client’s exclusive trademark rights.”
Miller has given the company until September 29th to respond.
“Perhaps there’s a licensing arrangement or perhaps they decide to change the design of their logo,” says Miller, “if they push Hana to the wall she has the option of pursuing it in court.”
