JBS Textile Group, the maker of the CR7 brand of underwear, has demanded a US man called Christopher Renzi gives up a trademark he owns for the term, prompting him to file a lawsuit in return.

In a complaint filed at the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island, Renzi is seeking confirmation that he has the rights to the phrase in the US.

The 43-year-old claimed he had been sent letters from Denmark-based JBS demanding that he stops using the term, as the company planned to launch the underwear brand in the US.

JBS has also asked the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel the trademark, awarded to Renzi in 2009 and used on jeans and clothing as well on an online fitness video.

‘CR7’ was “so closely tied to the fame and reputation of Cristiano Ronaldo, that a connection with the soccer player would immediately be presumed by the general public”, JBS said in its filing at the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The company added that it had a “worldwide licence” to the phrase.

In his complaint, filed on July 28, Renzi claimed that the term is a play on both his initials and date of birth, October 7.