Nike's application for the Bronny B9 trademark was rejected! Highly similar to existing brands, three trademarks have already been approved.

On April 15 Beijing time, according to documents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Nike's application to register the "B9" trademark for Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James was rejected due to potential confusion with existing registered trademarks.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner P. Scott Craven deemed the mark too similar to the "B9" trademark of Austin, Texas-based golf apparel company Back9 Golf Apparel, hence rejecting the application. Both "B9" marks were filed for use in clothing and apparel categories.

Nike submitted this "B9" trademark application in February this year. The design features a Gothic lowercase letter 'b' with the number 9 positioned inside the letter. Bronny has worn shoes bearing this logo multiple times this season, and Nike also released photos of shoes featuring this logo on April 13.

Back9's "B9" trademark has a black background, with letters and numbers in a racing-style font partially overlapping. The company began using this mark in 2020, filed the trademark application in 2021, and completed registration in 2022.

Craven wrote in the rejection letter: "The two marks are similar in appearance, sound, and commercial impression, and their pronunciations are essentially identical, sounding very alike."

Nike declined to comment on this rejection. ESPN contacted Bronny's agency team and Back9 but has not received responses yet. Nike has three months to appeal the decision and explain why it believes the two marks are sufficiently distinct to coexist.

Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney at Gerben Intellectual Property, said: "Does Nike have a 50% chance of winning an appeal based on the argument that 'the two designs are unique and won't cause market confusion'? These logos are indeed highly recognizable, which is their advantage. But I think this will still be a tough battle."

However, Gerben also noted that currently, this trademark's situation "could be described as somewhat precarious."

Gerben stated that Nike has another possible path to approval: proactively contacting Back9 to request their consent for using the trademark. If Back9 agrees, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office might then approve Nike's registration application.

"This rejection is reasonable and not without basis," Gerben said. "Strictly speaking, the official grounds for rejection are valid. Nike will need to put in considerable effort to overcome this hurdle."

Bronny currently has three trademarks successfully approved: "Bronny," "Bronald," and his signature abbreviation "BJJr." He submitted these applications through another trademark agency company in 2022.