A Shoe Brand That Hasn’t Been Prominent For 25 Years Is Challenging The Trademarks Of The Los Angeles Rams And Chargers
ByJoey Heldon September 6, 2018inArticles›Sports News
If you’re under 25 years old, chances are you probably don’t know about LA Gear. The shoe company, which was endorsed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , James Worth, and Joe Montana , is most famous for its light-up sneakers. The kicks were stylish back then, but the company filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and was eventually purchased by ACI International.
But now, LA Gear is back in the spotlight.
The company asserts that trademark filings for “LA Rams” and “LA Chargers” are too similar to “LA Gear.” Why? Because all three use “LA.”
Jean Fang/Getty Images for LA Gear
According to filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, both the Rams and Chargers have been in settlement talks. But last month, the Rams offered a formal response to LA Gear’s claim of ownership: basically, that it has no claim.
The Rams say LA Gear can’t own the term “LA” because it’s an abbreviation of Los Angeles, and a company can’t own an entire city. The team also noted that in the past two decades, hundreds of trademarks using “LA” or “Los Angeles” in the clothing goods category alone have been granted.
Meanwhile, the Chargers and LA Gear are still in talks. However, it’s highly unlikely that LA Gear emerges victorious here. Their case is pretty flimsy, at best.
That skepticism can be felt throughout the world of law, too. As Josh Gerben , a trademark lawyer in Washington, D.C. so eloquently put it: “The Cleveland Browns probably have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl than LA Gear does of winning this case.”
Looks like LA Gear better become fans of the Dawg Pound.
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Could Jim Harbaugh Be The Next Coach Of The Los Angeles Rams?
ByJoshua R. Woodon December 19, 2016inArticles›Sports News
With the playoffs looming, there are very few things that are certain in the NFL these days. Here are a couple of things that are certain: The Browns will get another great draft pick (and probably squander it), the Patriots have a great shot at winning another Super Bowl, and the Los Angeles Rams desperately need a change – and fast.
The Rams started on the path to change by firing head coach Jeff Fisher , who was obviously leading them down every wrong path he could find. The franchise, fresh off a move to L.A. from St. Louis, has made some decent draft choices, has a franchise running back and a great defense, and appears poised for success… but they’re missing one extremely important piece of the puzzle: a good coach.
Sure, there are a lot of coaches out there. For instance, there’s Hue Jackson, the Bengals’ Offensive Coordinator. Or, they could go with either one of the Coordinators from the Patriots, Josh McDaniels or Matt Patricia (I mean, they have to be good after a few years under Belichick, right?), or Todd Haley, Offensive Coordinator of the Steelers. But none of those guys is time-tested. They simply don’t have the head coaching experience – the proven ability to win – that the Rams need to see in their dire situation.
There is one guy who stands out: Jim Harbaugh.
Pros: Harbaugh is a proven winner at every level. He’s hard-working, he cares about his players, and he loves to win.
Harbaugh stepped in to coach the San Diego University team back in 2004. At the time, he had zero head coaching experience. He stayed with the squad for three years, posting a 15-1 conference record with two conference titles, putting him on the shortlist for best coach of all time at the school.
(Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
He then moved on to Stanford University. The two guys before him had gone a combined 16-40 in the past four seasons. Harbaugh came up huge, improving the team’s record each season, and culminating his Cardinal career with a 12-1 record in 2010, with a victory in the Orange Bowl to cap it off. All told, he was 29-21 at Stanford. Outside of current coach David Shaw , that’s the best winning percentage for a Stanford coach since the 60s.
After that, he took over an awful 49ers team that had gone 6-10 the year before he arrived, and hadn’t had a winning season in 8 years. What did he do? Took them to three straight conference championships and one Super Bowl. After one tumultuous season where disagreements between the coach and the front office reflected poorly on the team’s record, the 49ers inexplicably gave him the boot.
Now he’s at Michigan, where he’s the highest paid coach in college football, and for good reason. The year before he arrived, the Wolverines were 5-7. In his first two years with the team, he’s taken them to a 20-5 record, and they’ll be competing this season in the Orange Bowl.
Cons : Well, there’s really only one. It’s uncertain whether or not he’ll actually want to come back to the NFL (even though he definitely prefers the NFL to college). It’s estimated that, to get him to L.A., it would take a contract worth between $10 million and $15 million per year! That would make him the highest paid football coach at any level.
So, is it worth that much money for the Rams? Absolutely.
One major issue is that the Rams need a change right now. It’s highly likely that the Chargers will be headed to L.A. from San Diego, and about 25% of the Chargers’ season-ticket holders already live in L.A. Honestly, right now, given the choice between a Rams game and a Chargers game, which would you rather see? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
The Rams need dynamic change, and they need it right now. Harbaugh is almost certain to give them that.
The team’s owner, Stan Kroenke, is worth almost $8 billion, and he’s pouring a huge amount (over $2 billion) into the Rams’ new stadium . For that investment to make any sense, he needs to hire a coach who will direct a team that will fill the seats. The price tag is unimportant.
The question is: how long will it take before Kroenke heads out to Michigan to make an offer? And when that day comes, will Harbaugh take the bait?
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San Diego Chargers Ready To Franchise Tag Philip Rivers The Next Two Seasons And Pay Him $55 Million
ByTravis Pulveron August 16, 2015inArticles›Sports News
Philip Rivers has been one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL for some time. He has passed for more than 4,000 yards in six of the last seven seasons, and for at least 20 touchdowns in each of the last nine seasons (30+ in four of them). During his career, he has gotten the San Diego Chargers to the AFC Championship game, but has yet to make it to the Super Bowl.
He is a little on the older side at 33, but there is no reason to believe that he is going to slow down anytime soon, especially with the Chargers restocked with young talent and ready to compete. He has already made over $119 million playing for the Chargers, and could stand to make a lot more, should he opt to resign with the team when his contract expires after this season.
Normally, a marquee player like Rivers would be offered a contract extension before he begins the final year of his current contract. Rivers, however, has been reluctant to engage in talks, choosing instead to focus on the season at hand.
Getty Images
Part of the problem for Rivers has been the ongoing discussion on whether the Chargers are going to stay in San Diego or move to Los Angeles. Rivers has stated that he does not wish to uproot his family and force them to move to Los Angeles. He’s made it sound as if he might actually consider retiring rather than do so.
Would he actually retire rather than move? Only Rivers knows for sure, but when he sees the kind of money the team is willing to put on the table the next two years, he might change his mind.
Rumor has it that the team and Rivers have made progress in contract talks, but that a deal is unlikely to happen before the start of the 2015 season. Should that be the case, it appears the team has no problem putting the franchise tag on him in 2016. They will have a few months to still try and negotiate a long term deal with him before the ‘16 season, but if they don’t that will put his salary next year around $25 million.
Where it gets really interesting, is what the team is willing to do should they not come up with a contract extension prior to the 2016 season – franchise tag him again. If they do, he gets a 20 percent pay raise from his previous year, putting his salary in 2017 at $30 million.
Basically, the Chargers are willing to pay Philip Rivers $55 million over the next two seasons to stay with the team. That is nearly half of what he has made throughout his entire career.
So – will he uproot the family for $55 million? He would be insane not to. If his wife and kids miss their San Diego friends too much he can just charter a private jet every weekend to fly them over to Los Angeles.
He’ll certainly be able to afford it.
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