Manchester City players wore changed garments for their pre-match warm-up on Sunday following a trademark infringement complaint filed in the High Court through the Superdry fashion logo.
Last week it emerged that City were being sued for damages over the use of the words Super Dry (a beer sold through one of its main sponsors, Asahi) in its educational kit.
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Some immediate implications have become apparent: until Wednesday, January 3, when Superdry’s claim was first reported via Law360, City players wore dungarees, sweatshirts and coats emblazoned with the words “Asahi Super ‘Dry'” in politeness and before matches.
Since the middle of last week, however, and including for the warm-up before their FA Cup match with Huddersfield Town on Sunday, the players’ clothing has been changed to ‘Asahi 0.0%’.
But with Superdry, the UK-based clothing brand, also injunctions and monetary damages, and even the option to “destroy” City’s “Super “Dry” brand educational apparatus, more progress will follow.
Here, The Athletic explains what we know so far and what may happen next.
Superdry alleged City “benefit unfairly” from “riding on the coattails of… well-known Superdry registrations” and argues its own brand could be “tarnished” by poor quality clothing items sold by City.
It also states that its logo may be affected simply by “negative perceptions or preconceived notions about Manchester City football club, for example in the minds of some players, supporters of rival football clubs” and claims that the club’s use of the Super ‘Dry’ logo may simply ‘damage Superdry’s reputation’.
Superdry submitted that “the appearance of the (training) kit is liable to deceive a substantial number of members of the UK public into believing that the (training) kit is clothing designed or sold by (Superdry)”.
As a result, the logo is monetary reparations by the City. “He is not currently able to quantify the precise monetary price of this claim,” according to court documents, but he intends those damages to “include . . . any unfair benefit obtained through the offender as a result of the infringement. “
The price of sponsorship of City’s educational kit with Asahi has not been made public, it has been reported that the club’s former partner OKX paid $20 million (£18. 5 million) for the 2022-2023 season and therefore there has been speculation that the new deal will come into effect a similar support.
Superdry claims that the city has “substantially benefited” from the brand-related sponsorship deal in the education kit and that they have “committed to. . . knowingly and/or with moderate grounds to infringe activities to know that Superdry is a well-known clothing brand. “that he had not given permission.
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In November 2023, Asahi won an award from marketing company The Drum for a crusade that, according to an article on The Drum’s website, aimed to “elevate the prestige of the educational kit and instill in it the same pride and symbolism as the first kit and kit. “
After accepting the award, Asahi said the campaign, which featured Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones, among others, was City’s most engaged sponsorship content of the season, achieving 19. 87 million views and 428,000 social media interactions.
Superdry also asked the court to save City from promoting “Super Dry” parts and for the club to move all those parts to the company, or “destroy or alter” them.
In documents submitted on December 15 — and seen by The Athletic — Superdry sets out to highlight its popularity as a brand, highlighting its 98 UK stores, several well-followed social media pages and awards won, as well as listing celebrities such as David Beckham, Neymar Jr and Kylie Jenner to have worn its clothing.
He cites collaborations with rock bands Metallica, the Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden, and Motley Crue.
City players Julian Alvarez, Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland, Kyle Walker and Oscar Bobb also wear educational clothing adorned with the branding ‘Asahi’s Super ‘Dry’, in particular ‘Super ‘Dry’ Asahi 0. 0%’Array.
Superdry argues some of the photos demonstrate that not all of that wording will always be visible due to “various factors such as the viewing angle and the physical posture of the wearer”. One of the photos does show Haaland inadvertently covering much of the “Asahi” logo on his training shirt.
The logo also provides examples of their own clothing where the words “Super” and “Dry” are superimposed, as is the case with City’s Asahi clothing.
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City seem to have already made adjustments to their educational equipment. Last Wednesday, the club posted a photo of women’s forward Khadija Shaw in training wearing a half-zipper that read “Asahi 0. 0%. “On Thursday, more photographs of male players wearing the same logo were released.
– Manchester City (@ManCity) January 3, 2024
The last time the ‘Super “Dry”’-branded items were publicly visible was during the Premier League match against Sheffield United on December 30.
City have not commented and it is not clear when they were made aware of the claim against them.
City announced in July that beer brand Asahi Super “Dry” would feature on both the men’s and women’s training gear throughout 2023-24.
At the time, they said, “Since the partnership began, the Asahi Super Dry logo has been incorporated into several other areas, adding the Asahi Super Dry Tunnel Club logo change and a wider facility of state-of-the-art products. around the Etihad Stadium to offer City enthusiasts the unique super dry Japanese flavour.
This statement refers only to educational garments and not to the hospitality offer of the city’s tunnel club.
Although the Super “Dry” logo itself is owned by Asahi (and looks more like beer advertising than clothing), City is caught in the middle of the claim because it owns and sells the product with the disputed wording.
There is no set date for any further court hearings and it is unknown when there will be a resolution.
Superdry, Asahi and Manchester City declined to comment.
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(Top photos: Getty Images)