Michael Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas coming out of college. The resilience of Nike however, came through. They presented Jordan with a deal never before given to a college athlete and eventually Jordan signed with them in 1984. It’s the sole reason that Nike was eventually able to surpass the German brand. Nike’s trust in MJ is best depicted in the logo, The Jumpman. The company used a separate logo and made a whole new line of shoes under the athlete’s name. In 2022, Air Jordan had an annual revenue of $5.3 Billion.

But the logo was not safe, as 30 years later, an unexpected lawsuit came to take down the Jumpman. It involved a photoshoot with?His Airness?and an image that would soon become iconic.

Michael Jordan pictured wearing New Balance

Before getting drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1984, Michael Jordan was already making waves in the basketball world. The 1984 Olympics were in Los Angeles. A young Michael Jordan represented the Olympic team and took home the gold for Team USA. Before the start of the Summer Olympics, Life magazine wanted to photograph a few players on Team USA. Among them, one player that they wanted was Michael Jordan.

Jacobus “Co” Rentmeester is the photographer behind Michael Jordan’s iconic image in New Balance shoes.

Rentmeester was given 20 minutes with Jordan to take the picture for the magazine. He already had it planned out in his head for what he wanted from the #3 overall pick. Jacobus took the picture outside rather than on an indoor court.

When Jordan arrived at the location, he could see a basketball hoop on a grassy hill. Rentmeester wanted Jordan to do the ‘grand jet?‘ pose that the dancers do in ballet. Jordan was excited by the idea and made Rentmeester’s vision come true as he got the perfect images.

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The iconic picture of Jordan in the air with New Balances was published in Life Magazine. The exact model of the New Balances that Jordan was wearing is still unknown. However, the image would later lead to controversy.

Infringement lawsuit against Nike

Nike made their signature Jumpman logo with Jordan in mind. But when we look into the history between Nike and Rentmeester, the story goes back over 30 years. Notably, Rentmeester filed a lawsuit against Nike in 2015.

According to him, Nike took an interest in the original photo. Nike’s creative director paid Rentmeester $150 for limited use of the image in 1984. They were allowed to use the images for presentations on slideshows.

When Nike used the images for the promotion of the Air Jordan line in 1985, Rentmeester reached out to Nike. Nike paid Rentmeester $15,000 for a limited license that allowed them to use the image for two years.

The lawsuit in 2015 alleged that Nike infringed on their original agreement and ripped off Rentmeester’s work to create the Jumpman logo. The lawsuit ended up being unsuccessful, and the notion of an appeal was rejected in 2019 by the Supreme Court.

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