LIV Golf is constantly facing the court. The Saudi-backed league, already no stranger to legal battles, is now facing trademark infringement lawsuits that cut closer to home than most because its very name is at the center of trademark disputes.

Long Island Spirits, a distillery based in Baiting Hollow, New York, filed the suit on March 23, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The company was founded in 2007, and the distillery has spent nearly two decades building its LIV brand, short for Long Island Vodka.

It produces award-winning vodka made from local potatoes, along with gin, whiskeys, and canned cocktails, all sold nationally under the same mark. The company has held federally registered trademarks for “LIV” in connection with alcohol and spirits since its founding year.

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The problem, according to the lawsuit, is that LIV Golf has been doing exactly the same thing. The league, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has expanded into LIV-branded alcohol and apparel. It is selling cocktails at its events under the names “LIV Clubhouse Cooler” and “LIV It Up Bloody Mary.” They have been pushing the branded merchandise throughout the tri-state area.

Long Island Spirits alleges this has caused widespread confusion among customers and distributors and has directly depressed sales of its products. The distillery is seeking a court injunction to stop LIV Golf from using the name on alcohol and apparel, as well as punitive damages for what it calls willful and intentional trademark misuse.

The lawsuit doesn’t mince words, calling LIV Golf’s conduct “blatant trademark infringement.” And founder Richard Stribeil has given equally direct comments.

“LIV Golf’s aggressive use of our LIV brand isn’t just causing brand confusion; it is a direct attempt to hijack the exact spirits and lifestyle categories we invested decades in building.”

The distillery’s trial counsel, Chris Rice of BraunHagey & Borden, added that the conduct is “precisely what trademark and unfair competition laws were  to prevent.”

Now, this lawsuit does not exist in isolation. LIV Golf has been accumulating legal challenges with a frequency hard to ignore.

LIV Golf’s Trademark Troubles Are Becoming a Pattern 

In January 2026, spirits giant Sazerac won a partial victory against the league in a dispute over the use of “Fireball” in its branding. Before that, in June 2025, Ohio-based Stinger Inc. filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against LIV Golf’s Stinger GC team, alleging trademark violations. The case is now headed for mediation on April 15th.

And going as far back as June 2023, Argentine company Cool Brands Supply sued LIV Golf and Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC team, claiming the league had copied the logo of a 20-year-old skateboarding brand, Fallen.

LIV Golf has not publicly responded to the latest lawsuit, but with a track record of partial defeats, a nine-figure case heading to mediation, and now a distillery arguing that the league’s name belongs to someone else, the legal picture around LIV Golf is becoming harder to ignore every passing month.