Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Lamar Jackson have found themselves in a peculiar legal battle.
Dale Jr., of course, became one of the faces of NASCAR while driving the No. 8 car. Jackson has worn that same number throughout his football career and has won two MVPs with it.
Well, back in 2019, Jackson filed trademark registrations for “ERA 8” and “ERA 8 BY LAMAR JACKSON.”
Dale Jr., however, is now attempting to trademark the number itself, stylized in the fashion it was on his car. He filed the application last December.
But Jackson argues that Earnhardt’s application conflicts with his own trademarks.
In a notice of oposition, Jackson says that he is widely associated with the No. 8 “due to his notoriety and fame, along with his promotion of this number in his trademarks and in media coverage” and that he could be “damaged” by Earnhardt Jr.’s registration.
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The quarterback also said that the driver’s registration “falsely suggests a connection” between the two.
“[Jackson] has expended considerable time, effort, and expense in promoting, advertising, and popularizing the number 8 in connection with his personality and fame, as well as with the trademark applications and registrations referenced above, with the result that the relevant purchasing public has come to know, rely upon, and recognize [Jackson’s] trademarks as very strong indicators of the source of [Jackson’s] products provided in connection with his marks,” the filing reads. [Jackson] has established valuable goodwill in his registrations and applications featuring the number 8″
Thus, the quarterback has “respectfully [requested” that Earnhardt Jr.’s application be “refused registration.”
In his NASCAR career, Dale Jr. won two Daytona 500s and back-to-back Xfinity Series, then known as the Busch Series, to close out the 1990s.
This is not Jackson’s first time defending his trademark. He found himself in a similar battle with Troy Aikman last year, who tried to trademark the word “eight.”
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