Under Armour files trademark infringement lawsuit against small religious inspired sports brand
The Armor and Glory brand is one of many to be sued by Under Armour
Under Armour has fiercely protected its brand name with a number of lawsuits against rivals like Nike, however the brand’s pursuit of a small family business illustrates an even greater level of offense.
The apparel brand has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a small Maryland family-run company with a scripture-inspired name, Armor & Glory.
The business was set up in 2013 by a devoutly religious father, Terrance Jackson, who wanted to start his own “inspirational apparel” after a shopping trip for his three year-old son, during which he noticed that half of the clothes in the stores had things like “skulls and crossbones or dragons” on them.
Since then Jackson’s business has printed only a few hundred t-shirts and garnered around 1,500 Facebook likes. The company has made less than $100,000 through its online store which sells shorts for $20 and t-shirts for $25 which are marketed for a Christian audience, using slogans such as “Be spiritually attractive” and “Put on God’s armor and receive His glory.” Jackson’s pastor, Rodney Payne, is even the company’s CEO and Jackson describes the ethos of the business as “building and develop dynamic disciples for the kingdom of god through the power of the cloth.”
Its modest status and niche market hasn’t stopped Under Armour pursuing legal action however. The Baltimore apparel giant’s attorneys demanded that Armor and Glory “destroy all products, hand over its domain name and any profits, and pay Under Armour’s attorney’s fees and damages of $100,000 or more.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, Jackson described the lawsuit as “trademark bullying at its finest” and said his company was “about building a movement to celebrate the power of God. It’s not even a big financial thing right now; it’s about winning the souls.”
He has set up a crowdfunding page to help support its legal defence which seems inevitable to be costly given that Under Armour said they were “prepared to take all necessary actions to protect our intellectual property rights and the interests of our consumers and shareholders.”
Under Armour’s vehement defence of its brand has previously seen the company file lawsuits against Nike and Sketchers. It has also sued Body Armor, a sports-drink company; Salt Armour, a Florida fishing-apparel firm; and Ass Armor, maker of shock-absorbing snowboarding shorts.