Agassi sues over alleged trademark violations

American tennis star Andre Agassi is suing a retailer for allegedly selling shoes using his name without his permission.

A trademark lawsuit by tennis player Andre Agassi alleges that Target Corp sold a sandal using his name without his permission. Agassi Enterprises claims it told Target Corp in June that the flip-flops violated its trademark on the retired tennis player’s name.

On June 27, Target lawyers told Agassi Enterprises that it had removed the name from the shoes, according to the lawsuit.

But Agassi’s company said it found the men’s brown flip-flops at two Target stores and online at Amazon.com in August and September.

Target spokeswoman Amy von Walter said yesterday that the continued use of the Agassi name was an oversight, and that it was trying to relabel all of the sandals when Agassi Enterprises found the offending footwear.

“It may have been missed in a few stores, which prompted this lawsuit,” she said.

Target runs more than 1,500 stores across the United States. She said the flip-flops were never marketed under Agassi’s name, and that the name does not appear on the shoe itself.

The lawsuit filed on Friday in federal court in Las Vegas claims that Target has sold 52,589 pairs of the sandals for estimated sales of $661,184 (€478,000).

The lawsuit seeks triple damages.