CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball and his family are being sued for $200 million by a man who claims he isn't being paid fairly.
Alan Foster, who owns 33% of the Ball Sports Group, a company owned by Ball's father LaVar Ball, filed the lawsuit in California on Monday. Foster claims he helped build the family's company and LaMelo Ball's own branding company, MB1 Enterprises. The lawsuit claims that Foster isn't being paid fairly for his work and that LaMelo's company is infringing on his intellectual property.
Foster's lawsuit alleges the family's actions have cost him $200 million. He also filed suit against Puma, claiming the apparel company used logos that are "intentionally designed to be confusingly similar" to his trademarks while designing Ball's signature shoes.
The lawsuit states that Foster met the Ball family around 2010 and that LaVar Ball trained Foster's son in his backyard as a middle school athlete. Foster claims that in 2016, Ball asked for his business guidance on how he could monetize his sons' basketball careers and minimize the risk of them being exploited by the sports industry. Foster claims that he provided the necessary funding to to launch the Ball family brand in exchange for 33% ownership of the Ball Sports Group.
Foster goes on to claim that in 2020, LaMelo Ball and MB1 Enterprises attempted to license, produce, promote and sell apparel using his trademarks or logos that are confusingly similar to LaMelo Trademarks he owns.
"He knew that his Big Baller Brand signature show was called the 'MB1' and that the name was protected by federal trademark," the lawsuit says. "Yet, despite his knowledge of all of this, LaMelo willfully and deliberately chose to name the signature shoe he created and designed with Puma the 'MB1' in violation of the LaMelo trademarks."