The New York Knicks have issued a cease-and-desist order to Zohran Mamdani’s campaign after it used the team’s iconic logo in a campaign ad on Wednesday. The organization emphasized that it does not endorse or support the democratic socialist frontrunner in his bid for New York City mayor.
#NYCMayor: The Zohran Mamdani campaign ran this spot last night during the Cavs-Knicks game -- pic.twitter.com/VjlYb1b8kS
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The trademark angle of the NY Mayoral race: The Knicks have reportedly send Mamdani a cease & desist over this ... pic.twitter.com/A9wciFTuhx
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The cease-and-desist letter, obtained by The New York Post, argues that the campaign ad is “likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks.” They are demanding that Mamdani's team remove any intellectual property from his campaign material or face legal repercussions.
“The NY Knicks have sent NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for using the NY Knicks logo to promote his candidacy,” a spokesperson for the Knicks said. “The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights.”
The advertisement was not only run on TV, but was also posted to Mamdani's social media pages. The ad went up on Thursday and has yet to be taken down.
We will see if the democratic socialist, who doesn't respect capitalism or private property rights cares, or is forced to care, about intellectual property rights.
