A former Jets worker is suing the staff and the NFL for unspecified damages over the Jets’ use of a brand he designed.
Jim Pons filed a swimsuit alleging he got here up with the design within the late 70s whereas he was working for the Jets because the staff’s movie and video director, based on the lawsuit obtained by TMZ.
The emblem in query is the one which includes a jet aircraft above the letters “E-T-S” that the staff used starting in 1978 and was the AFC membership’s major brand up till 1997 after they modified course.
Pons claims within the swimsuit, based on TMZ, that he owns the brand and that he got here up with the design exterior the scope of his job when he was employed with the staff.
The swimsuit asks for a decide to cancel the Jets’ trademark of the brand and Pons needs a ruling that forestalls the soccer staff from having the ability to use the design or promote merchandise with it on there with out his consent or compensation.
“We’re conscious of the grievance,” the Jets mentioned in a press release to The Put up. “The mark in query has been registered with the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace for almost 50 years. The mark has been used repeatedly in quite a few iterations since that point. We discover this declare baseless and with out benefit.”
The Jets started utilizing that model of the brand in 2023 twice for that season and earlier this yr they introduced that they might be returning to the design full-time for the upcoming season.
Pons spent almost three many years working for the Jets up till 2000 after beginning with the staff in 1973, he mentioned in a promotional video he was featured in that had been launched in April.
The eight-minute video options Pons narrating how he got here up with the design and his expertise working for the staff.
“I assumed it will be good to simply have the identify and it type of shifting in a route. After which I began playing around with it and tilting the letters after which I assumed a jet aircraft on the highest of this may look fairly cool,” Pons mentioned within the video about developing with the design. “I fooled round with it for a couple of days and it began to return into fruition and it began to look fairly good. And I gave it to them they usually preferred it they usually used it. They took it and the subsequent factor I knew it was the brand.”
The Jets introduced on April 15 that it will debut new jerseys and a return to the brand in a “nod to the Sack Trade period.”
Within the video launched the next day, Pons mentioned the staff had alerted him that it was returning to the brand he designed and mentioned that it made him really feel “good” over the recognition of the design.
