Michael Jordan Suing Grocery Stores

» by Justin T. Stewart justinstewart December 23, 2009, 18:28pm

It looks like Michael Jordan has a few gripes with the city that his name has become synonymous with as the former NBA star is suing grocery stores in Chicago.

Jordan is fighting to get $10 Million from two grocery stores, making allegations that they used his identity without permission within their ads that were published within a Sports Illustrated issue that was commemorating the star titled, Jordan: A Hall of Fame Career.

He is seeking the amount of $5 Million from each store for false endorsement, consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition.

The grocery stores in question of such an infraction are Dominick's Finer Foods and Jewel Food Stores.

According to the pair of lawsuits filed, Jordan claims that the advertisement featured in Dominick's placed the Hall of Famer's name with the phrase “You are a cut above” accompanied with a photo of a steak.

Below the phrase is an ad to save $2 on a Rancher's Reserve steak, which is a trademark of the store's parent Safeway,

For those curious to the actual problem, Jordan already has two steakhouses along with an online steak company named after him and there would be no reason that the former baller would want to bring conflict to his own companies, accord to Matt Bortosik of NBA Chicago.

In regards to Jewel's ad, there are a pair of Air Jordan basketball shows that reside beneath a message of support that closes with the store's slogan “just around the corner”. The suit claims that the pictures a misrepresentation of his sneaker.

With a man so financially endowed as Jordan, such a suit seems insignificant and petty, but it is apparent that he wants to ensure that he isn't being advertised without his knowledge and should reap the benefits of the placement.