IN BRIEF
NEW YORK — A judge rejected Reebok’s bid to overturn his ban on its sale of Tim Tebow New York Jets jerseys Wednesday, saying the public can wait a few weeks for Nike Tebow jerseys to show up in stores.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel said Nike Inc. had shown a “probability of success” in its quest to permanently halt Reebok sales of Tebow jerseys and T-shirts during a daylong hearing that follows the filing of a lawsuit last week. Castel temporarily blocked Reebok from selling 6,000 Tebow-Jets jerseys and 25,000 T-shirts a week ago.
Reebok International Ltd. argued for the ban to be lifted Wednesday, saying it had found evidence that the Canton, Mass.-based company, an Adidas AG subsidiary, was within its rights to create the jerseys and T-shirts even though its agreement with the National Football League Players Inc. to use players’ names and numbers had expired at the end of February. Its 10-year NFL licensing deal for players’ apparel expired at the end of March, when Nike began its own five-year deal.