U cant market them as Kobe’s
so his name and signature will be removed
and if Kobe own that logo. It’s a wrap for them shoes
Mamba "snake" trademark is for Nike, Mamba "M" logo is Kobe's.
Nike can do whatever they want and keep making shoes since NBA players are still wearing them like crazy.
Either way, the estate should've re-upped for like 5 years so people had a chance to get their hands on gear and not get fleeced by resellers and hypebeasts.
Someone on the estate side either felt some kinda way about these recent release rollouts or were responsible for not letting Nike go crazy with production. But I'm sure COVID had an effect on every Nike product so it was just a perfect storm that messed things up.
Still, maybe the Kobe rumors of him leaving Nike were true but it's still hard to believe since Nike lever lets their trademarks and designs leave. We saw that with Federer, Kawhi, Kanye and those Nike designers who went to Adidas. Nike nailed all of these people to the wall and didnt let them walk away with shyt that was their intellectual property.
The Jumpman/Nike marriage is a perfect one because it's mutually beneficial and neither will never leave each other. The same can't be said for other athletes like Neymar who will take a big bag and go and Nike knows that no athlete will every surpass MJ when it comes to their impact on the company so they will let them walk. Kobe leaving was an easy pill to swallow since he wasn't an active player. I guess we will never really know what was what.
With that said, no other brand will get to produce Kobe shoes and I guess people will kinda sorta want the Mamba "M" gear but they will want the shyt they saw Kobe wear with the swoosh on it.