Iconic horse racing announcer, Dave Johnson is suing Amazon, as reported by TMZ just days before the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby. Johnson trademarked his phrase “And down the stretch they come” and doesn’t want Amazon selling t-shirts featuring the famous line.
According to the lawsuit, Johnson categorized the Amazon t-shirts with his trademarked phrase as “’tacky, low quality, over-priced’ item that’s tarnishing his good name.”
Since the lawsuit was filed, Amazon appears to have removed the shirt from its e-commerce marketplace. When doing a Google search for the t-shirt, an Amazon link pops up, but upon clicking it the consumer is directed to a “sorry we couldn’t find that page” message.
This isn’t the first time Johnson filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a company using the phrase “And down the stretch they come.” In March, Johnson sued The Weinstein Company for using his famous line in their 2014 Bill Murray film, St. Vincent.
In the film, Murray plays a grumpy alcoholic who frequently gambles on horse-racing. Associating the trademarked phrase with Murray’s character, “infringes, damages, blurs, tarnishes, and dilutes the mark and the rights and reputation of the mark’s creator and owner, Dave Johnson,” the lawsuit alleged.
For more than two decades, Johnson was featured on ABC as their announcer of Triple Crown races, until 2001 when the rights shifted to NBC. Johnson continued calling the races on radio until 2007 when Westwood One lost the rights to ESPN. Currently, Johnson hosts a weekly radio show titled Down the Stretch on SiriusXM. A special edition of the show will be available on SiriusXM Saturday morning at 10am ET prior to the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
