The New York Knicks have sent a cease and desist letter to the campaign of Aber Kawas, the Democratic nominee for New York State Senate District 12, demanding she stop using the team's championship logo in her promotional materials. Kawas, who has the backing of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, produced campaign stickers reading "I voted for Aber Kawas" that swapped the team's name for her own while keeping the Knicks' trademarked design intact.
The letter, signed by Brian N. Warner, senior vice president and head of legal for Madison Square Garden Sports, did not hold back about what the Knicks consider a clear-cut case of intellectual property theft.
As Fox News reported, the Knicks' legal team laid out a string of alleged violations, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition, and demanded the campaign pull every piece of material bearing the logo immediately.
Warner's letter made the organization's position unambiguous. Neither the Knicks nor NBA Properties authorized the Kawas campaign to use any Knicks intellectual property, he wrote.
"Neither the Knicks nor NBA [Properties] have authorized the Campaign to use Knicks Intellectual Property in any way, including the Unauthorized Advertisements, which are likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks."
The letter went further, characterizing the stickers as "Unauthorized Advertisements" and warning that the campaign's conduct amounts to unfair competition. Warner demanded that the campaign "immediately remove all promotional materials incorporating Knicks Intellectual Property, including but not limited to the unauthorized Advertisements, and cease any further use of Knicks Intellectual Property."
Whether the Kawas campaign has complied remains unclear. No public response to the cease and desist has been reported.
This is not the first time the Knicks have had to send lawyers after a politician in Mamdani's orbit. During his own mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani's team used the Knicks logo in a similar fashion and received the same treatment, a cease and desist letter from the organization. The Knicks made clear at the time that they were not endorsing anyone in the race. Mamdani won anyway.
Now a candidate he backs is running the same play. It raises a fair question: is this a deliberate strategy to borrow the cultural cachet of a championship franchise, legal consequences be damned?
Mamdani's tenure as mayor has been defined by a willingness to push boundaries, and sometimes blow past them. He pledged defiance of a Supreme Court ruling ending deportation protections, a move that put him squarely at odds with federal law.
The Kawas endorsement fits a broader pattern. Mamdani has worked to build a slate of like-minded candidates across New York City and state, and the results have reshaped local politics. His political machine swept New York City primaries earlier this cycle, ousting two Democratic incumbents in the process.
Kawas serves as youth activities director for the Arab-American Association of New York and is the Democratic nominee for Senate District 12. Fox News described her as the daughter of illegal immigrants.
Beyond the logo controversy, Kawas has drawn scrutiny for comments about 9/11. She came under fire for rejecting the notion that Muslim Americans need to apologize for the attacks. In a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday morning, Kawas pushed back on the criticism.
"I've always been outspoken about the wrongful scapegoating of Muslim Americans, both before and after 9/11, and in this interview I was speaking about the harmful notion that Muslims should have to apologize for an act of violence they have nothing to do with."
Her candidacy, backed by Mamdani, is part of a broader effort to move New York's Democratic Party further left. Mamdani has not been shy about backing challengers with incendiary records, even when doing so opens rifts within his own party.
The cease and desist arrives against the backdrop of an already tense relationship between the Knicks organization and City Hall. Knicks owner James Dolan and Mamdani clashed earlier this month over the team's championship watch parties during their title run. The friction carried into the Knicks' championship celebration at City Hall last week, where Mamdani name-dropped Knicks legend-turned-Dolan rival Charles Oakley during his speech, a move unlikely to endear him to the team's owner.
Dolan, for his part, did not participate in a photo opportunity with the mayor. He delivered his own pointed remarks to the crowd.
"I don't need your vote. I don't need to quote to you what happened. If you're real Knick fans you know it already."
Dolan then announced the Knicks would visit the White House to see President Donald Trump, potentially the first NBA team to do so. Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The announcement drew a clear line: the Knicks' championship celebration would run through the White House, not through City Hall's preferred political channels.
The consequences of Mamdani's approach to governing extend well beyond sports feuds. Major firms have started voting with their feet, Apollo recently chose Austin over New York for its second headquarters as Wall Street players weigh the costs of operating under his administration.
The Knicks have shown they will go after anyone who borrows their brand without permission, regardless of political affiliation. Shortly after last year's election, the White House itself used the Knicks logo in a social media post bearing the message "Trump Is Your President." The Knicks reached out, and the White House removed the post.
That episode makes the Kawas case harder to dismiss as partisan overreach by the team. The Knicks have been consistent: their logo is not a political prop, and they will enforce that position against campaigns on the left and the right alike.
Mamdani's record of questionable judgment calls as mayor only deepens the impression that his political operation treats rules, whether legal, constitutional, or intellectual property, as obstacles to be ignored when they get in the way of the cause.
A campaign sticker is a small thing. But the instinct behind it, grab what you want, claim it as your own, and dare anyone to stop you, is not small at all. It is the same instinct that drives sanctuary city defiance of federal law, the same instinct that treats court rulings as suggestions, the same instinct that treats private property as a public resource when it serves the right political ends.
The Knicks' legal team spelled out the problem plainly: the stickers were designed to make voters believe the campaign had the team's endorsement. It didn't. That is not creative marketing. It is false association, and the law has a name for it.
Kawas and Mamdani may see themselves as insurgents fighting the system. But when the system you're fighting includes basic trademark law and the property rights of a private organization, you are not speaking truth to power. You are just taking what isn't yours.
