June 2017. Multinational food company Kellogg’s, best-known for its cornflakes cereal, has filed an opposition in Australia to a trademark application for the Special K brand by Australian tennis pro Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Photo (right): Diliff

Nickname

When Kokkinakis and his tennis partner Nick Kyrgios reached the semi-finals of the Davis Cup in 2015, they were nicknamed the ‘Special Ks’ in the media. Kokkinakis must have thought it would make a good brand name.

Trademark since 1958

Kellogg’s doesn’t agree. It claims Kokkinakis is infringing its own rights to the Special K cereal brand, which were registered in Australia in 1958.

Good publicity?

Kokkinakis doesn’t seem prepared to withdraw the application though. Maybe he thinks all publicity is good publicity, since he hasn’t featured much on the sports pages recently. Ranked 81st in the world, he failed to make it past the first round of the 2017 French Open.