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Deion Sanders was recently deposed as part of a federal lawsuit accusing the Colorado football coach of defrauding the graphic designer who created his “Prime” logo.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Nebraska, Omaha–based graphic designer Alan Tipp alleges that Sanders and his representatives fraudulently induced him into signing away his rights to a pair of logos he first created for the Hall of Fame cornerback in 2011. The two logos—stylized text of the words “Prime” and “Truth”—have since become staples of Sanders’s branding during his tenures as the head coach at Jackson State and Colorado.
According to the complaint, Sanders began using the logos around the same time he co-founded Prime Prep Academy in 2011. The design has also appeared in a wide range of commercial partnerships tied to Sanders, the lawsuit says, including Under Armour, Gillette, Jeep, Lamborghini, Aflac, Boost Mobile, and Motorola.
While Tipp initially filed the lawsuit in January 2025, the case’s docket was updated on July 30, 2026, to reflect that Sanders was scheduled to be deposed. Front Office Sports has since confirmed that deposition has already taken place. Sanders, merchandise company Prime Time Enterprises, and talent/brand management firm SMAC Entertainment are all listed as defendants in the suit.
Tipp alleges he was approached by Sanders’s brand manager and a SMAC Entertainment representative, Sam Morini, shortly after Colorado hired the former Cowboys star in December 2022. According to the claim, Morini sought to have Tipp sign all past, present, and future rights to the logos over to Sanders, who had just been hired by Colorado.
Tipp says he was made four specific promises in return: he would become a part of Sanders’s brand/marketing team; help Colorado football players build their own brands; work with Nike on Sanders-related merchandise, including footwear; and be retained to design an exclusive Sanders sunglasses line. The graphic designer says that Sanders and his team began evading him nearly immediately after he signed the agreement.
In April 2023, SMAC informed Tipp that his services on the sunglasses line were no longer needed. Five months later, the sunglasses company Blenders released an exclusive Sanders line bearing the “Prime” logo, which the lawsuit says netted nearly $5 million in its first three days of sales.
Prime Time Enterprises, which claims ownership of the branding, has also tried to trademark the design with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as the word mark “PRIME21”—a name reflecting how the logo stylizes Sanders’s NFL jersey number into the lettering. Of five applications filed since February 2023, two have been abandoned while the other three remain active, with two still pending and one now registered. SMAC also created an Amazon.com storefront identified as “PRIME21,” which sells a variety of apparel featuring the logo.
“There was never any intention of utilizing Tipp’s services or compensating him for the creation of the Works upon Tipp’s execution of the Agreement,” the claim reads. “Rather, Defendants’ objective was to fraudulently induce Tipp into relinquishing his rights in the Works so they could continue to profit greatly and unjustly from their use, at Tipp’s continued expense, and to attempt to avoid culpability, financial, legal, or otherwise for all of their past and continued use of the Works.”
Tipp is seeking a judgment voiding the 2022 agreement as fraudulently induced, the cancellation of the trademark registrations, an injunction against further use, and damages in excess of $75,000. Meanwhile, the defendants have all contested the complaint, with discovery having recently been completed after more than a year. A status conference has been scheduled for Oct. 13, 2026.
An attorney representing Sanders and SMAC declined comment when reached by FOS. Attorneys for Tipp didn’t immediately respond.
This isn’t the only legal situation Sanders, who is entering his fourth season as Colorado’s coach, has been connected to recently. Earlier this week, he was subpoenaed to testify in his son and former Buffaloes defensive back Shilo Sanders’s bankruptcy trial, although the 59-year-old has filed a motion to quash the legal obligation.
