Tiger Woods’ company takes Baton Rouge business to court over tiger branding

An apparel brand backed by golf legend Tiger Woods and a Baton Rouge company that makes cooling equipment for helmets and caps are embroiled in a trademark dispute.

Sun Day Red, a joint venture between Woods and TaylorMade Golf, filed suit against Tigeraire last month in a Los Angeles federal court. Sun Day Red said it took the action to protect the brand from Tigeraire’s “ongoing interference, threats, and outrageous demands.” Before that, Tigeraire had filed a notice of opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, requesting a denial of Sun Day Red’s trademark application.

Sun Day Red and Tigeraire, which was founded in 2020, both have logos that feature striped, leaping tigers. Tigeraire’s logo reflects the company’s ties to LSU — the business was cofounded by Greg Stringfellow, a longtime athletic equipment manager for the university. Sun Day Red’s logo is a reference to Woods who is known for wearing red on the final day of golf tournaments. The 15 stripes on the logo represent the number of major tournaments he has won during his career.

“The first time we saw their logo, my reaction was, wow that looks way too similar,” said Jack Karavich, Tigeraire CEO.

The similarities between the logos have created confusion, Karavich said. While the company originally started with cooling equipment that fits inside football helmets and hard hats, Tigeraire started promoting devices that clip on caps to golfers in October 2023, according to its Instagram account.

After Sun Day Red launched in February, people started approaching Tigeraire representatives at professional golf events and wrongfully accusing them of ripping off Woods’ logo. That has created a false narrative and hurt Tigeraire, Karavich said.

“We’re a small business, and that’s the first time we’ve experienced something like this,” he said.

In the suit, Sun Day Red says Tigeraire’s claims of trademark infringement are meritless. The logos are distinguishable, the products they primarily sell are different, and the target customers are sophisticated enough to know the difference between the brands.

Karavich frames the dispute as a David vs. Goliath battle. On one side, there’s Woods, the most famous golfer in the world; TaylorMade, one of the leading manufacturers of golf equipment; and Centroid Investment Partners, the multibillion-dollar South Korean private equity firm that owns TaylorMade. On the other side, there’s Tigeraire, which has fewer than 20 employees, according to pitchbook.com, which tracks startup firms.

The suit alleges that Tigeraire started courting the golf market shortly after the launch of Sun Day Red, then sought an “exorbitant payment.” The suit notes that a number of athletic apparel businesses have similar leaping tiger logos, and Tigeraire has never challenged them.

That is a false narrative, Karavich said, noting that the only leaping tiger logo Tigeraire has been confused with has been Sun Day Red.

When Tigeraire realized there was a problem with marketplace confusion, the company reached out to Sun Day Red to reach an agreement. Karavich said the company didn’t hold off on the trademark issue to let damages accrue. 

While he wouldn’t discuss what sort of royalty structure Tigeraire offered, Karavich said that it was drawn up with guidance from LSU, which has scores of trademark deals, and Nike.

“We made a good faith proposal,” he said, adding that it is insulting to say his company was seeking a payday.

After Sun Day Red rejected those offers, Tigeraire filed an opposition to the company’s trademark application. That led Sun Day Red to file the suit in federal court as a retaliatory measure, Karavich said.

The suit seeks a declaration that the Sun Day Red logo doesn’t infringe on Tigeraire’s mark and asks for reimbursement of attorney’s fees.

By filing the suit in California, where Tigeraire has no employees, no offices and only a small number of online sales, Sun Day Red is trying to drag his company into its backyard for a fight it instigated, Karavich said.

Tigeraire is hoping the federal judge rules that the case should be heard in Louisiana.

“It doesn’t matter where the fight is, we’re in the right,” Karavich said. “They’re dragging us around, making us spend money.”