The Brooklyn Nets are starting the NBA season in another kind of court.
The team, along with the YES Network, its television carrier, Canon U.S.A. and the NBA are being sued by software company Phinge in a California court for trademark infringement for the “Netaverse” trademark. (Canon provides equipment for the YES Network.)
BSE Global, the Nets’ corporate parent company, declined to comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit. A spokesperson for the YES Network said, “It is in active litigation; therefore we can’t comment.”
The lawsuit alleges that Delaware-based Phinge has been using the trademark “Netverse” since 2021 for its mobile, tablet, and laptop devices, and it has been preparing to offer a virtual reality version of it called “Netaverse” since December 2022. Phinge filed for a “Netverse” trademark in September 2019 and received approval for it four years later. The company applied for a “Netaverse” trademark in January 2022, which is still pending, according to the lawsuit. The Nets applied for its own “Netaverse” trademark on the same day and, shortly after, began promoting it as a virtual reality platform to view games, which Phinge alleges was in direct violation of its trademark.
In the lawsuit, Phinge said it sent the Nets multiple letters informing them of their infringement, which the Nets acknowledged, but still continued to use. In November 2023, Phinge filed two separate oppositions against the Nets’ “Netaverse” trademark applications to the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In April, the Nets filed to drop their trademark application without notifying Phinge. A few weeks later, the Nets filed a second abandonment without telling Phinge. The trademark board approved both of the Nets’ applications. Meanwhile, the Nets continued to use “Netaverse” in its promotions.
Phinge is seeking a permanent injunction against the Nets to use “Netaverse” in addition to monetary damages and a ruling that the team’s use is confusing to consumers and leads to unfair competition.
Editors’ note, Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. ET: An earlier version of this story misstated the date Phinge applied for a “Netaverse” trademark. It was January 2022, not 2023.
