A cannabis company in LeBron James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio, is using the name and branding of the basketball superstar’s talent agency to “confuse customers” into thinking the agency is involved, a federal lawsuit filed Monday alleges.
Akron-based Klutch Cannabis uses a crown logo, color scheme and font on its signage, cannabis product packaging and merchandise that is “identical” or “virtually identical” to Klutch Sports Group’s registered trademarks, attorneys for the latter Klutch claimed in a March 16 complaint.
The suit, filed against Klutch’s parent company ATCPC of Ohio, claims federal trademark and copyright infringement and counterfeiting and seeks unspecified damages at a jury trial.
Pete Nitsch, Klutch Cannabis’ vice president for compliance and communication, told Signal Akron that his company has not yet been served with the suit.
Is Klutch Cannabis affiliated with LeBron James’ agency Klutch Sports?
Founded by Cleveland native Rich Paul in 2012, Klutch Sports’ most famous client is James, who catapulted to fame while still in high school at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary.
But Klutch Sports has no affiliation with Klutch Cannabis, which opened for business eight years later and has five retail locations in Ohio, along with a cultivation facility, Signal Akron reported.
Klutch was one of the first entrants into Ohio’s $1 billion annual cannabis market when sales began in August 2024.
According to the suit, Klutch Cannabis’ use of branding that allegedly infringes on the sports agency’s registered trademarks is fooling the public into thinking otherwise.
The suit claims that Paul visited Klutch Cannabis’ Cleveland location in 2025, when a customer recognized him and said he planned to buy a sweatshirt because he thought Paul was involved in the venture.
That’s since led to a pattern of cannabis consumers fooled into thinking Paul – and by extension James – are affiliated with the cannabis enterprise, the suit alleges.
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“Multiple individuals have contacted Klutch Sports employees and executives under the mistaken belief that Klutch Sports owns or operates Klutch Cannabis,” the suit alleges.
The suit adds that Klutch Cannabis employees are encouraging the confusion: “(A)t least one of Klutch Cannabis’s agents or employees informed at least one person that there was a connection between Klutch Cannabis and Klutch Sports.”
Klutch Sports first sent cease-and-desist letters to the cannabis Klutch in August 2025, the lawsuit alleges. The cannabis outfit cycled through three attorneys but continued to use branding to which Klutch Sports lays claim, the suit adds.
Attorney: Ohio cannabis company likely to lose lawsuit from LeBron James’ agency
Cannabis enterprises in the industry’s underground days frequently used branding and logos that played off existing, widely recognized companies’ trademarks. These include many of the illicit market products that authorities claim are appealing to children.
And retailers may have an incentive to suggest affiliation with household names like James. Celebrity cannabis brands continue to outperform more generic product lines, MJBizDaily reported.
But in the legal industry, including Ohio’s $1 billion annual market, trademark infringement is serious business. And Klutch Sports is highly likely to prevail, according to patent attorney Josh Gerben, who is not involved in the case.
“You’ve got the same name, not just phonetically similar, but spelled the same way with a ‘K’,” he wrote in a blog post Tuesday.
“You’ve got similar logos and visual branding. You’ve got geographic overlap in Ohio. And you’ve got a market reality where athletes and cannabis brands increasingly intersect.
“If the company had used a ‘C’ instead of a ‘K’ and a different logo, this might be a closer case,” he added. “Instead, the combination of identical spelling, similar logos and overlapping markets makes this case look more like a knockout on the first punch.”
Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
