Kawhi Leonard (Photo: Chensiyuan)

Nike Inc. has drafted a team of litigators from DLA Piper to respond to NBA star Kawhi Leonard's claims that he should hold rights to the so-called Claw logo developed back when he was under contract with the shoe company.

Leonard's lawyers at Sullivan & Worcester and Duckor Spradling Metzger & Wynne sued Nike in June while Leonard was in the midst of leading the Toronto Raptors past the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. He has since signed to play next season with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Leonard draft of “The Claw” logo.

Leonard's lawsuit claims that Nike took a design that he authored—which highlights his notably large hands, his jersey number 2, and his initials 'K.L.'—and then filed an application at the United States Copyright Office without his knowledge or consent. Leonard's suit seeks a declaratory judgment finding that he is the sole author of the logo and that any future use of the logo by him or his current business partners won't infringe upon Nike's rights.

But Nike's DLA lawyers pushed back in court filings Wednesday, claiming that they hold valid rights to the logo. They claim Leonard, not the company, misled the Copyright Office about the logo's origins when he filed an application of his own in June. The DLA lawyers contend the company's professional designers made significant changes to the draft logo that Leonard submitted to them. They included side-by-side images of the sketch that Leonard gave the company, and the final logo that Nike designers created which eliminated the number 2 from the logo. The Nike version of the log was used on Leonard's shoes when he was under contract with the company and submitted to the Copyright Office by both parties.

Nike's copyrighted design.

Nike also points to an October 2014 interview with sneaker blog nicekicks.com quoting Leonard saying: “I drew up the rough draft, sent it over and they (Jordan Brand) made it perfect…I give the Jordan Brand team all the credit because I'm no artist at all…They refined it and made it look better than I thought it would ever be, and I'm extremely happy with the final version.”

Nike's legal team claims the NBA player improperly filed his trademark application to use the mark on items such as hats, shirts, jackets and pants.

“In his application for the Leonard Registration, Leonard fraudulently claimed to be the author and sole owner of the Claw Design, with knowledge that Nike's designers, and not Leonard, authored the Claw Design, and with specific intent to deceive the U.S. Copyright Office into granting the Leonard Registration to the detriment and prejudice of NIKE, as the true and exclusive owner of the Claw Design,” the DLA lawyers wrote.

Nike's team includes Stanley Panikowski in the firm's San Diego office and Tamar Duvdevani and Matthew Ganas in New York.

Scott Metzger of Duckor Spradling did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment from Leonard's legal team.

Also on Wednesday, the DLA lawyers also filed a motion to change the venue of the case from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to the District of Oregon, citing a forum clause provision in Leonard's prior contract with the company.