The New York Knicks have sent a cease and desist letter to Aber Kawas, a state Senate candidate backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, for using a doctored version of the team's logo in campaign materials. The letter accuses the campaign of trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition, marking the second time in less than a year that a politician in Mamdani's orbit has drawn legal fire from the franchise over the same stunt.
Kawas replicated a playbook that Mamdani himself pioneered during his mayoral campaign last October, when he ran an ad featuring an altered version of the Knicks logo with his first name swapped in. The Knicks hit Mamdani with his own cease and desist at the time. Now, his endorsed candidate has copied the move and drawn the same response from Madison Square Garden's legal team.
Bryan N. Warner, Senior Vice President and Head of Legal at Madison Square Garden Sports, laid out the organization's position in blunt terms. In the cease and desist letter sent to the Kawas campaign, Warner wrote:
"The Campaign's activities in this regard constitute, among other things, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition."
That language covers a wide range of intellectual property claims. Trademark infringement means using a protected mark without permission in a way that could confuse consumers about the source or endorsement. Trademark dilution goes further: it targets uses that weaken or tarnish a famous mark, even without confusion. False association means the campaign created the impression that the Knicks endorsed or were affiliated with Kawas, which the organization plainly disputes.
The Knicks did not file a lawsuit. A cease and desist letter is a formal demand to stop specific conduct, and it often serves as a precursor to litigation if the recipient does not comply. Whether Madison Square Garden Sports escalates beyond the letter remains to be seen.
The Kawas incident does not exist in a vacuum. It sits inside a broader and increasingly bitter conflict between the Mamdani administration and the Knicks organization. The New York Post first reported that Kawas used a doctored Knicks logo for campaign materials, mirroring the exact tactic Mamdani deployed during his own mayoral run.
That October incident drew its own cease and desist from the Knicks. Mamdani's campaign had featured an altered version of the team's iconic logo with "Zohran" replacing the Knicks branding. The franchise made clear at the time that it had not authorized the use and did not endorse the candidate.
The relationship between Mamdani and Knicks owner James Dolan deteriorated further during the NBA Finals, when Dolan clashed publicly with the Mamdani administration over cancelled fan watch parties. The details of that dispute added another layer of friction to an already strained dynamic between City Hall and one of New York's most prominent sports franchises.
Now, with Kawas pulling the same move, the pattern looks less like a one-off mistake and more like a deliberate political tactic being exported from Mamdani's campaign operation to his allies. The Knicks' willingness to send a second cease and desist signals that the organization has no intention of letting the practice slide, regardless of which candidate tries it.
Political campaigns have a long and messy history of borrowing from pop culture, sports, and entertainment without permission. Musicians regularly demand that candidates stop using their songs at rallies. Sports teams occasionally push back when their brands get dragged into partisan politics. But the legal terrain is well established: trademarks belong to their owners, and political speech does not create a blanket exemption from intellectual property law.
The Lanham Act, the federal statute governing trademarks, prohibits unauthorized uses that are likely to cause confusion about sponsorship or endorsement. Courts have consistently held that using a team's logo in a way that implies the team supports a candidate can violate these protections. The fact that the use occurs in a political context does not immunize it.
New York City's political landscape has generated no shortage of legal and ethical controversies in recent years. A federal bribery probe targeting Brooklyn Democrats tied to hundreds of millions in shelter contracts has cast a shadow over the city's Democratic establishment.
The Kawas campaign has not publicly responded to the cease and desist letter. Investigators and legal observers will be watching to see whether the campaign removes the offending materials or whether the Knicks pursue formal legal action.
Mamdani's entanglement with the Knicks is one thread in a larger fabric of political turbulence gripping New York Democrats. The arrest of Frank Carone, former chief of staff to ex-Mayor Eric Adams, on a 13-count federal bribery indictment underscored the depth of corruption concerns swirling around the city's political class.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who won the mayoralty, has positioned himself as a break from the old guard. But the unauthorized logo episodes suggest that his political operation is willing to cut corners when it suits the campaign's messaging needs. Sending endorsed candidates out with the same tactic that already drew legal pushback raises questions about the judgment and discipline inside his political network.
Fox News reported on the cease and desist letter as part of broader coverage of the friction between Mamdani's political circle and the Knicks franchise. The story highlights how the dispute has moved beyond a single campaign ad and become a recurring flashpoint.
The incident also fits a national pattern of Democratic politicians facing serious institutional and legal consequences for overreach. Virginia Democrats recently weighed a plan to remove all seven state Supreme Court justices after a redistricting defeat, drawing sharp criticism for attempting to bend institutions to partisan ends.
The Knicks have two clear options. They can treat the cease and desist as sufficient if Kawas pulls the materials, or they can escalate to a trademark infringement lawsuit if the campaign ignores the demand. Madison Square Garden Sports has the resources and legal infrastructure to pursue either path. The organization's decision to send a second letter in under a year suggests it views the pattern as a genuine threat to its brand.
For Mamdani, the episode creates a different kind of problem. Every time a candidate in his network gets hit with a cease and desist from one of New York's most recognizable sports brands, it reinforces a narrative that his political operation plays fast and loose with rules that apply to everyone else. Whether voters care about trademark disputes is debatable. Whether the Knicks care is not.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether any formal legal proceedings will follow. The next move belongs to the Kawas campaign. If the doctored logo stays up, expect Madison Square Garden's lawyers to do more than write letters.
When politicians treat someone else's brand as their own, the law has a word for it. The Knicks just spelled it out.
