USOPC, Prime Hydration Reach Settlement in Trademark Dispute

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee trademark infringement lawsuit against Prime Hydration was formally dismissed this week after the two sides worked out a settlement. 

The USOPC sued Prime—which counts the YouTube star turned boxer Logan Paul as a minority owner—before the start of the Paris Olympics in July and sought “millions” in damages over alleged trademark violations. U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez granted the voluntary dismissal Wednesday after the USOPC and Prime stated in a joint status report that “the parties have reached an agreement to settle this dispute.”

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the case filed in Colorado’s U.S. District Court. 

The USOPC alleged in the civil complaint that Prime continued to use trademarked phrases—including “Olympic,” “Olympian,” and “Team USA”—”despite numerous requests” to halt the use of the terms in Prime’s advertising and social media posts. A cease-and-desist letter was sent to Prime on July 10 and beyond continuing to use trademarked terms, the lawsuit alleged that Prime “continued to ship” bottles of a special edition “Team USA Kevin Durant drink.”

“Prime Hydration’s conduct has been and continues to be willful, deliberate, and in bad faith, with malicious intent to trade on the goodwill of the USOPC and the IOC,” lawyers for the USOPC claimed in the lawsuit. 

Messages left with the representatives of the USOPC and Prime were not immediately returned. 

Prime threatened a trademark infringement litigation of its own, according to a lawsuit filed by Mark Anthony Brands International—the parent company of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and White Claw—against Prime in October. The lawsuit centered on claims that Prime used its prominence in the hydration market to restrain Mark Anthony International’s hydration drink featuring soccer star Lionel Messi.

“Mark Anthony brings this action to put an end to Prime Hydration’s anticompetitive threats and to protect its lawful right to sell its innovative and successful Más+ by Messi hydration products in the United States,” lawyers for Mark Anthony Brands International wrote in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

That case remains ongoing.