Nike’s promise in Bronny James has always been sky high. He first signed with them on an NIL deal before he began college at USC. That was in 2022, and now in 2026, the son of LeBron James already has his player-exclusive kicks. However, the Swoosh brand’s attempt to increase the 21-year-old’s brand visibility has hit a snag.

Why did Bronny James’ logo get denied?

The Los Angeles Lakers guard James had a trademark filing through Nike rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.”The USPTO turned down the application because examining attorney P. Scott Craven deemed the logo too similar to the ‘B9’ logo created by Back9 Golf Apparel, a company out of Austin, Texas. Both ‘B9’ markings were filed for clothing and apparel usages.”

Michael Rothstein of ESPN also reported that the USPTO ruled that there was a “likelihood of confusion” with similar logos. Back9 started using its logo in 2020 and officially registered it in 2022. It features an overlapping “B9” in a stylized racing font on a black background. Nike’s logo for Bronny James’ brand has a lowercase “b” in gothic lettering with the number “9” in the middle.

The son of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been with Nike since 2022 and was part of the elite student athlete class featuring Caitlin Clark, Haley Jones, DJ Wagner, and Juju Watkins. This continues the legacy of James with Nike. After all, LeBron signed a lifetime deal with them in 2015 for over $1 billion.

A few months ago, Bronny debuted his pink-accented Nike LeBron Witness 9 PE. It featured his signature logo, as the Bronny James x Nike LeBron Witness 9 is exclusive to the 21-year-old himself. A few days ago, they launched a second colorway, which features an all-over digital camo print in dusty tan shades of brown with the signature logo in red on the heel. By keeping it exclusive for the player, Nike is trying to gauge the audience’s reaction and acceptability if they do a future launch. Fortunately, they have another legal route to fight the case.

Nike still has a chance to get Bronny James’ logo approved

For now, the Swoosh brand has declined to comment on the rejection of the logo. Similarly, ESPN reached out to Bronny James’ agents and Back9, but again, the request returned empty. Their silence is understandable as they are preparing for a way to fight this. Reports further confirmed that Nike has three months to appeal the ruling and explain why both logos are different enough to coexist.

“Nike, do they have a 50-50 shot of that kind of argument, being that the designs are so unique that these are not going to get confused in the marketplace? These are very distinct logos, so they do have that going for them,” said trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben IP. “I think it gives them an argument to make, but it is a little bit of an uphill battle here, I think.” Gerben, though, said the logo could be “arguably in some jeopardy at this point.”

Apart from appealing, Gerben stated that Nike can approach Back9 to consent to Nike’s usage of the logo. If they agree, then the USPTO could grant Bronny James and Nike’s request.