Lebron James will go down as one of the best to ever play the game of basketball; his confidence is unwavering. Lebron has never shied away from taking tough shots with the game on the line. What Lebron is not known for is taking shots off the court; specifically, taking legal shots relating to intellectual property (“IP”) infringement.
On March 28, Alabama University’s football team released the trailer for a new video series on Twitter. The video series, called Shop Talk, features head coach Nick Saban and former Alabama football players in an off the cuff discussion held in a barber shop. So where does Lebron fit into all of this? Well, Lebron has previously released two episodes of his own web series called The Shop on his media channel called “Uninterrupted.” The premise of the show is identical to that of the Shop Talk. The series features Lebron and his guests engaging in unscripted banter while getting their hair cut in a barbershop.
Lebron and his business partner, Maverick Carter, created the media platform and web series last year. The first episode of The Shop aired during the 2017 NBA Finals and garnered about 4 million views across Uninterrupted’s webpage and ESPN’s YouTube channel. In response to Shop Talk’s trailer release, Uninterrupted sent a letter to Alabama addressing their concerns over ShopTalk’s exploitation of The Shop’s copyright and trademark rights. The letter neither threatens Alabama with immediate legal action nor requests them to cease and desist. However, it does put Alabama on notice of Uninterrupted’s belief that Alabama is infringing on their IP rights. The letter reads in part, “Your continued exploitation of Shop Talk infringes ‘Uninterrupted’s‘ copyright, trademark rights and other valuable IP rights in The Shop and significantly damages ‘Uninterrupted’s‘ commercial prospects for The Shop.”
James’s present claim alleges two different theories of IP appropriation – trademark and copyright. The first question that will have to be addressed is whether the title The Shop is protectable as a trademark. If so, Alabama’s Shop Talk is likely to be found in violation as it would certainly cause confusion among viewers. With both being web-based media series with identical names and concepts, it would be easy for viewers to confuse who is responsible for each production. It was difficult enough to write this article without mixing up the names. If a mutual agreement is not reached between the two parties it is likely that a court would force Alabama to change the name of its series.
The second, and more controversial question, is whether The Shop holds any protectable value under copyright. The concept of candid barbershop sports talk cannot be protected by copyright – anyone can air a web series with a similar principle. What can be copyrighted is the expression of this idea and how The Shop carries out this idea. Thus, the question a court would have to answer is whether Shop Talk is infringing upon the expression of the idea of candid sports and life discussions in a barbershop setting. While it is evident how the two web series could be confused to be related, it might be a difficult argument to make that the two series share the same concept.
In all likelihood, the two parties will find common ground and settle this amongst themselves. Although it is not a Finals ring, this would certainly be an off-the-court victory for Lebron.