San Antonio Express-News interviewed Porter Wright's Rick Mescher about Nike lawsuit

Porter Wright attorney Richard Mescher was interviewed by the San Antonio Express-News about the continued legal battle between Nike and NBA player Kawhi Leonard in the article entitled, "Nike slaps Kawhi Leonard with counter suit over hand logo." Leonard, a former San Antonio Spurs player who now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, filed a lawsuit against Nike over the "Klaw" logo that he says he created. Nike filed a counter suit claiming their team of designers came up with the logo for a special edition Leonard shoe.

Richard Mescher, a Columbus, Ohio, attorney who specializes in intellectual property law, said he leans toward the logo designed by Nike's team being "transformative to a whole new work." He is not involved in the case.

"If it's an entirely new work, that would mean that Nike owns it," he said. "The one thing that would stop that is if in the agreement, it clearly was stated thatNikecouldn't make any derivative works or new works based off (Leonard's) original sketch."

Rick wrote a blog about the logo dispute on the Technology Law Source blog, "Kawhi Leonard v. Nike Inc.: How copyrights can trump trademarks."