The ongoing legal battle between Logan Paul’s Prime Hydration and Mark Anthony Brands’ Más+ by Messi is getting more heated.
Prime on Thursday filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging that Argentine football star Lionel Messi has falsely advertised the extent of his involvement with Mas+.
The brand’s website lists Messi as the founder of Mas+ and claims he was involved in the “entire process,” but Prime argues the Inter Miami forward had no hand in creating, developing, designing or naming the product. In the suit, Prime alleges that it wasn’t enough for Mark Anthony Brands – primarily a bev alcohol-focused company – to enlist Messi as a brand ambassador; they needed to credit him with originating the idea.
“Mas+ knew that it needed to portray comprehensive and wide-ranging involvement from Messi because distributors, retailers and/or consumers would not rush to purchase a brand new hydration drink merely developed by Mas+ Co. or its affiliate Mark Anthony,” reads the complaint. “[The company] believed that distributors, retailers and/or consumers highly value authenticity, and would only be enticed to buy the product if it were portrayed as Messi’s idea.”
To support this claim, Prime cites Messi’s previous admission in an affidavit in a separate lawsuit that he was not involved in the creation, development, design or naming of Mas+. In the affidavit, the football star stated that neither he nor his team selected formulas for the product and that they had no knowledge of the design process.
Prime alleges that Mas+’s “false narrative” and associated advertising have caused it to lose retail shelf space and slotting positions at retailers nationwide, including Walmart. The suit seeks to block Mas+ from making marketing claims that Messi was involved in the creation of the product, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
This isn’t the first clash between the hydration brands. Last year, they went head-to-head when Mark Anthony Brands sued Prime, claiming it had threatened legal action over alleged trademark infringement. Prime then countersued, claiming that visual similarities between the brands is creating consumer confusion.
Mark Anthony Brands has stood by its design choices, with a lawyer for the company telling Law360 that Prime’s allegations were “baseless” and that it wanted to “put an end to Prime Hydration’s competitive threats.”