US District Court dismisses Pepperdine lawsuit against Netflix, Warner Bros over 'Running Point'

US District Court dismisses Pepperdine lawsuit against Netflix, Warner Bros over 'Running Point'

The judge ruled that the show did not use the name or logo in a trademark sense

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has favored Netflix Inc and Warner Bros. Discovery in a trademark dispute by Pepperdine University concerning the basketball comedy ‘Running Point’.

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela ruled that the fictional Los Angeles Waves team portrayed in the series did not infringe Pepperdine’s ‘Waves’ trademarks. She added that the show did not use the name or logo in a trademark sense.

Created by Mindy Kaling and starring Kate Hudson, Running Point follows a ‘reformed party girl’ who unexpectedly takes charge of her family’s professional basketball team, the Los Angeles Waves.

Pepperdine filed the lawsuit before the show’s release. It argued that the fictional team’s branding, including logo and blue-and-orange colors, was ‘strikingly similar’ to its long-standing athletic identity. The university’s teams have competed in NCAA basketball in the Los Angeles area for over 85 years.

The court had earlier declined Pepperdine’s request to block the show’s release. A second season is scheduled to premiere on Netflix later this month.

Netflix and Warner Bros. argued that their use of the ‘Waves’ name was protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They asserted that it was artistically relevant and unlikely to confuse viewers into assuming any affiliation with the university.

The court agreed, leading to the dismissal of the case.

Pepperdine was represented by Andrei Iancu and Robert Sacks ⁠of Sullivan & Cromwell.

Netflix and Warner Bros were represented by Dan Petrocelli and Matt Kline of O'Melveny & Myers.