Adidas said Wednesday it will drop its opposition to a Black Lives Matter application for a trademark with a three-stripe design, which it initially complained was too similar to its own logo.
The German sportswear giant Monday requested the US Trademark Office reject the group’s bid for the design to be used on clothing, bags and elsewhere, according to a source close to the matter.
But an Adidas spokesman told AFP that “we are already in the process of withdrawing our opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s trademark application”.
The company did not explain the reason for the move.
But the source close to the matter said that pursuing the case could have been misinterpreted as Adidas criticising the aims of the anti-racism movement.
The US Trademark Office said on its website that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation — a prominent organisation in the decentralised movement — had filed the trademark request in September 2021.
The Black Lives Matter movement came into being in the United States about a decade ago in an effort to fight racism, especially in the form of police brutality.
It was reignited in 2020 by the killing of George Floyd, a black man whose videotaped death under the knee of a white police officer was viewed millions of times.
Adidas has faced a series of problems in recent times, notably the end of its high-profile, lucrative partnership with Kanye West after the rapper made a series of anti-Semitic outbursts.
The firm has forecast massive losses for this year linked to the end of the tie-up.
