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Litigation Partner James Molen shared his insights with Heavy about a lawsuit involving Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce tied to their 1587 Prime steakhouse.

Excerpts:

“At the current stage of the proceeding, this case isn’t the trademark fight most people assume it is — it’s a fight over how close two celebrity investors have to be to a business before a court can drag them into it personally,” Molen said.

“Mahomes and Kelce’s primary argument is that they’re several corporate layers removed from the restaurant’s operating LLC and never personally touched a New York transaction, while the plaintiff says their jersey numbers are the mark, which makes them ‘moving forces’ by definition,” Molen explained.

“While I can’t predict the outcome, here’s what’s worth watching: the athletes’ motion raises three separate grounds for dismissal — no personal jurisdiction, wrong venue, and failure to state a claim — and any one of those, if the court agrees, could result in dismissal,” Molen said.

“But the plaintiff only really engages with the failure to state a claim, leaving the jurisdiction and venue arguments essentially unanswered,” Molen said. “That’s likely to come up in the athletes’ reply brief, and courts generally don’t look kindly on unaddressed arguments.”