-Credit:PA
While all eyes will be on Manchester City and the outcome of the independent commission hearing into its alleged breach of 115 Premier League financial rules, the club have settled one legal dispute this week.
City had been due to appear at the High Court in London earlier this week in relation to a case brought by UK fashion retailer Superdry, who claimed that one of the club’s commercial partners had infringed on the brand’s trademark rights through its visible sponsorship on City’s training apparel.
City’s sponsorship deal with Japanese beer company Asahi was focused on the promotion of its non-alcoholic ‘Super Dry’ beer brand, with the logo appearing on the club’s training kit. But a little over a year ago, Superdry took legal action, claiming in its suit that the sponsorship took “unfair advantage of or causes detriment to the distinctive character or the repute” of the Superdry trademark. Lawyers had attempted to make the case that the sponsorship with Asahi was “liable to deceive” the public into believing it was a deal that was struck with the fashion retailer.
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But the case never made it to court this week after both City and Superdry reached a settlement to bring an end to the matter. From this season the Asahi 0.0% logo still features prominently on City’s training kits but no longer carries the ‘Super Dry’ tag.
City Football Group, the parent company that owns Manchester City, had rejected the assertion that there had been an infringement of rights, arguing that the “average consumer” would recognise that it wasn’t the UK fashion retailer’s logo and instead was that of the Asahi non-alcoholic beer brand.
In a statement on Tuesday, via the Financial Times, Superdry said that “the parties have reached a mutual settlement to resolve the dispute” but that the terms were “confidential.
Manchester City brought Asahi on board as a commercial partner back in 2023, but the legal disputes between the Japanese brewer and the fashion retailer go back more than two decades after Asahi had tried and failed in a bid to block Superdry from registering its trademark.