Three-time NBA All Star Kevin Durant is being taken to court by Mark Durante, a former guitarist for The Aliens, Public Enemy, The Next Big Thing, Slammin Watusis and the Revolting Cocks over the rights to the nickname ‘Durantula.’
Mark Durante, who made a name for himself as a guitarist in the 80s, claimed he trademarked the moniker during his time as The Revolting Cocks touring guitarist in the early 90s.
According to the suit, which was filed on Wednesday (20 June) in a federal court for the Northern District of Illinois, Durante had repeatedly demanded that Kevin Durant stop using the nickname.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Durant’s representatives responded to the guitarist’s demands with the following statement. “Kevin does not use the term as a nickname and has no intention of doing so.” However, Durante said that the basketball players merchandise and Twitter account – where a screenshot shows Durant using the name as a hashtag – say otherwise.
It is Durante’s claim that his livelihood is being affected by Kevin Durant’s use of the name ‘Durantula.’ “Due to a licensing and promotional campaign marketing which has flooded the marketplace with references to Kevin Durant as Durantula, Defendants have nearly consumed Plaintiff Mark Durante’s valuable, hard-earned identity which he has been cultivating and developing for nearly two decades,” a section of Durante’s suit read.
Durante is also suing Nike, over the use of a superhero version of Kevin Durant named ‘Durantula’ as part of a shoe campaign; and Panini Authentic for selling photographs and basketballs with the ‘Durantula’ inscription.
Regardless of how strong Durante’s case may be, Marc Reiner; chairman of the intellectual property group at Anderson Kill & Olick, said a ruling in favor of Durante is doubtful. “Trademark infringement is unlikely when the first user of the trademark is in music and the second is in sports, even thought there is some overlap between the two forms of entertainment.”
Reiner added, “Nicknames, even those rising to the level of ‘marketing identities,’ are often not exclusive,” he said, “and sometimes more than one entertainer/athlete has the same nicknames.”
Stay tuned for further details.
If Durante doesn’t win, I’ll claim racism. Screw Tree-Hockey, It hasn’t even been about talent for decades, it’s all about how tall you are and how dark your skin is.