Diljeet Taylor's pro group has a name - Taylor Made Elite - will they face legal challenge from TaylorMade golf?

A local brewery came up with a beer called "Starbock". Starbucks sued them and they had to give in. You do not want to mess with a trademark infringement lawsuits. Damages are big and the attorney's fees can be as big.

Here is the announcement from her instagram:

Taylor Made Products-Sells boating products

Taylor Made Cosmetics- sells cosmetics

Taylor Made Farm- an actual farm

Taylor Made for You- sells unique gift baskets

Taylor Made Express-delivery service,local pickups,air charters,warehousing.

Taylor Made Floors-sells flooring

Taylor Made Home Solutions - building products

Taylor Made Polish-custom nail polish

Taylor Made Cabinets-sells cabinets

Taylor Made Cafe- an actual cafe

TaylorMade Cases- cases for electronic devices.

Taylor Made Plans-home renovations

Taylor Made Photography- photography studio

Taylor Made Catering-Kansas City Catering

Do you want me keep going or have I made my point???????

Yeah, some of you guys know even less about lawsuits than you do about running. As long as it’s not a golf company the “Taylor” Made name is too common and flows too logically from her given last name. And it’s four professional runners in Provo so nobody cares anyway. That’s not worth the paper a cease and desist is written on.

Courtney Waymant and Whittni Orton her two most recent national champions graduated high school in 2016 so they were redshirt seniors at graduation. No extra years needed. Those are the only two I bothered to look up. I’m pretty sure historically only the men go on the 2 year religious mission trips. Check your facts.

No you haven't made your point. Running and golf are related as sports (individual sports at that) and therefore the same name is much more likely to lead to confusion among the relevant consumers (sports fans, purchasers of t-shirts, etc.) than any of these other things you've listed. That's trademark law 101.

Possibly and in any event, its a terrible choice. Clearly clueless, imo. But I'll watch to see how these old gals make out.

“I thought I was ordering a nine iron, but it turns out it was just a t-shirt with the name of this running coach in Provo. If only they weren’t both ‘individual sports’ I might have been able to discern…”

I am not trained as a lawyer in the state of Utah but in other jurisdictions IP/names/trademarks etc don't have to be so cut and dry as the above poster.

Taylor Made the golf company could argue that TM Elite are trading on their brand reputation in a sporting context e.g. an average person could think TM Golf, which already is making some casual wear, is perhaps sponsoring a running team to broaden their sport apparel market.

Alternatively TM Golf could argue risk to their brand reputation eg. if TM Elite were to get into a doping scandal or the like and people saw Taylor Made team embroiled in doping scandal in the news. The average person might not realise there is no commercial link between the two but still have a reduced opinion of Taylor Made Golf since who is going to check this sports team is named after a coach not the internationally known sports brand.

My old hometown had a barbers called "McDonald's Hair and Beards" - it also for a short time has a sushi joint called "McDonald sushi" as it was on McDonald Street. The former had no issues, the latter had to change its name. Even though McD obviously isn't in the sushi business they still went legal.

I imagine they'll be fine, but point is it isn't as cut and dry as it being fine so long as Diljeet doesn't start selling 9 irons.

I can't find the thread (I believe it was on GolfWRX) but this question was raised in some fashion and a TM rep responded that they aren't a particularly litigious company and are aware that there is inevitably going to be some crossover from the 'tailor made by someone who happens to be named Taylor' segment. Provided they aren't encroaching on their market and their logos/colour schemes aren't being copied, I don't believe they would really care (based entirely on some random online poster, but they were confirmed as an official TM rep.

For many people, "Coach Taylor" immediately brings to mind the great character played to perfection by Kyle Chandler in the TV series "Friday Night Lights"

1. She was married to a different guy when she was in college.

2. So if they do run into branding issues what will they do with all their tattoos "Taylor Made"

Keep going please…

There’s probably more potential confusion between the TM flooring, cabinets, building products, and home renovations. Or the TM Cafe and catering. And certainly TM cosmetics and TM Polish (custom nail polish).

This appears to be a pro group created for the BYU women who got married in college so their husband's don't have to deal with them being around male professional athletes.

NotaUtahBasedLawyer this is all correct, although I'll note that since TaylorMade (golf) has federally registered their trademarks, a dispute would likely land in federal court not state court; hence, Utah law wouldn't apply.

An alleged attorney, the confusion wouldn't come in with a nine iron; it would be things like apparel and other merchandise with the "TaylorMade" mark that would most likely create a "likelihood of confusion" (which is the legal standard).

I think its going to be a great crew and wish them well!!!!

I actually did think that they were being sponsored by Taylor Made golf when I first saw the name.

Correct... different industries can share the same name... I name products for a living.