Michael Jordan‘s stint with Nike has been beyond fruitful for both him and the sports apparel brand. The Chicago Bulls legend’s Jordan brand, under the Nike banner, earned a whopping $5,100,000,000 last year, which saw His Airness raking in a staggering $260 million in royalties. However, before he ever signed a contract with the company, Jordan allegedly created his iconic ‘Jumpman’ logo with a different brand of sneakers on his feet entirely. As per Complex, Michael Jordan appeared on the cover of Life Magazine with a very similar pose in 1984 wearing New Balance shoes. The report further elaborates that Nike got into hot water for allegedly stealing the pose for their ‘Jumpman’ logo.
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Jordan was perhaps the most marketable athlete in the world during his time in the NBA. Brands he associated himself with used that fact to perfection, building his perception in a way that made kids want to be exactly like him. The Jumpman logo especially resonated with a young audience considering how flashy the silhouette was. Of course, Jordan dunking with the same pose in the NBA didn’t hurt the branding.
Michael Jordan reportedly created the ‘Jumpman’ logo in New Balances during a photo shoot
Nike’s ‘Jumpman’ logo has become synonymous with the Jordan brand. However, the now iconic image they used for their advertisements was reportedly claimed to be someone else’s idea altogether. More specifically, the photographer for Life Magazine in 1984, Jacobus Rentmeester.
Having traveled to North Carolina that very same year, Rentmeester was asked to do a photoshoot with Jordan for the cover, in light of college athletes joining Team USA at the time. By the end of his session with the future Bulls legend, the following was the image that was sent to Life.
The pose was inspired by the ballerina move called the ‘grand jete’. More importantly, Jordan seemed to be wearing New Balances on his feet. Simply put, Nike wasn’t the first party to ask MJ to pose in his iconic ‘Jumpman’ pose. And before long they saw themselves in hot water for it.
Jacobus Rentmeester filed a lawsuit against Nike
Nike had taken an interest in Jacobus Rentmeester’s representation of Michael Jordan just about as soon as Life Magazine’s cover came out in 1984, a lawsuit filed by Rentmeester against Nike claimed. The company allegedly paid Rentmeester $150 for the limited use of the image. At the time, the brand could supposedly use it “for slide presentation only, no layouts or any other duplication.” However, Nike would soon make their own version of the image.
Here is how Complex explained what came next:
“Rentmeester reached out to Nike when the brand used its Jordan image in promotional materials around the launch of the Air Jordan line circa 1985. “Nike initially refused to speak with Mr. Rentmeester regarding the issue,” the 2015 lawsuit says, “and only responded to his repeated requests when Mr. Rentmeester threatened litigation.” The brand paid Rentmeester $15,000 in March 1985 for a limited license to use its version of the Jordan image for two years.
Rentmeester’s lawsuit contended that Nike wilfully infringed upon his copyrighted images of Jordan by exceeding the scope of their original agreement. It accused Nike of ripping off his work to create the Jumpman logo, a world-famous brand mark that shows Jordan in a pose similar to the one Rentmeester instructed him to do for the Life photo shoot in 1984.”
Ultimately, Rentmeester’s lawsuit was unsuccessful, as it was initially dismissed, before his appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected as well in 2019.
