Remember “We Not Me”? An Illinois Man Says it Was His Idea

Remember this shirt? 

That slogan on the back, “We Not Me,” was the perfect mantra for a team of veterans who came together for a goal larger than themselves. 

Now an Illinois man is claiming Adidas swiped the idea from him, according to mediabistro. The story: W. Brand Bobosky, a do-gooder from Naperville, Ill., began using the phrase “We Not Me” around 1999 to promote various fundraisers in Naperville, where he was once president of both the local Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. (And if you can’t trust the Rotary Club, who can you trust?). He started putting the phrase on keychains and pins, and in 2004 he hired attorneys at a Chicago intellectual property law firm to register for trademark and copyright protections on the phrase, according to a press release (via mediabistro). Bobosky “started small but envisioned infinite growth for the catchy phrase.”

Bobosky even created a Web site to promote the phrase. 

Flash forward to late 2007 and early 2008, when Adidas rolled out its “Basketball is a Brotherhood” campaign featuring KG, Chauncey Billups, Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas and others. The campaign featured the “We Not Me” phrase without permission from Bobosky, according to his lawsuit. Bobosky saw the ads and contacted Adidas about a possible licensing agreement, but the company either or ignored him or turned him down, the suit says. 

The slogan’s popularity jumped when the C’s won the title and Adidas marketed the above shirt. (Though the lawsuit incorrectly states that Kevin Garnett was named the MVP of the Finals. We all know it was Paul Pierce. They need to let basketball fans proofread these things). 

The suit names the Celtics and Garnett as individual defendants, though it’s unclear why, since every count seeking damages names Adidas and not the team or KG. (The ad agency that came up with the campaign is also not named, according to mediabistro). 

I reached out to Stephen Drinnon, the Texas-based lawyer handling the case for Bobosky, to ask why the C’s and KG are named, but he hasn’t gotten back to me as of now. (It should also be noted that Bobosky found some way to file the case in the Eastern District of Texas, long known as one of the most plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions in the U.S. for intellectual property infringement cases). 

I’ll let you know more when I get info. Suffice it to say I don’t think this lawsuit is exactly going to bankrupt the Celtics.

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