The NASKA Trademark Case: What the Jury Decided and What Each Side Says

A federal jury in Orlando has returned the first verdict in the fight over who owns the NASKA name. NASKA Inc., led by new president Hunter Lyon with Larry Carnahan as chairman, says the jury “unanimously ruled in our favor.” World Tour Promoters, the promoter group that includes Mike McCoy’s U.S. Open, says the jury answered one narrow question, that the case is only in its first phase, and that it will challenge the verdict. Here is what the public record shows, what each side says, and what it means for the tournaments on the circuit.

What is the NASKA lawsuit about?

The case is North American Sport Karate Association Inc. v. World Tour Promoters, LLC, et al., No. 6:26-cv-00752, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, before Judge Gregory A. Presnell. NASKA Inc. filed it on April 7, 2026 as a trademark infringement action under the Lanham Act, asking for preliminary and permanent injunctions. Both sides demanded a jury.

At its core it is a dispute over who owns and controls the NASKA name, the brand under which the leading open sport karate tournaments in North America have been rated and sanctioned since 1986. It is not a fight between NASKA and an outside organization. The defendants are the companies behind several of the tour’s best-known events, and their principals sat on NASKA’s board. It is, in effect, a split inside NASKA itself.

The federal registration at issue is U.S. Registration No. 7,721,429 for the standard-character mark NASKA, covering martial arts instruction and tournaments. It was applied for on June 10, 2024 and registered on March 11, 2025, and it claims first use on January 1, 1986. The registered owner is North American Sport Karate Association Inc., a Minnesota corporation based in Shoreview, Minnesota.

Who are the parties?

Plaintiff: North American Sport Karate Association Inc. (NASKA Inc.), represented by Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick. Larry Carnahan, NASKA’s president from 1988, and Hunter B. Lyon filed sworn declarations in support of its request for an injunction.

Defendants, as named in the amended complaint of May 15, 2026:

The defendants are represented by a team that includes Theodore H. Davis Jr. of Kilpatrick Townsend. On May 29, World Tour Promoters, McCoy, Pro-Kick, AKI, Truth Entertainment, Don Rodrigues Karate Academy and 13579441 Canada answered and filed counterclaims against NASKA Inc.; NASKA Inc. moved to dismiss those counterclaims on June 5.

What happened before trial?

• April 1, 2026: World Tour Promoters petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel NASKA Inc.’s registration (Cancellation No. 92091304).
• April 7: NASKA Inc. filed suit in Orlando.
• April 14: NASKA Inc. moved for a preliminary injunction, supported by declarations from Larry R. Carnahan and Hunter B. Lyon.
• April 30 and May 1: after a hearing, Judge Presnell denied the preliminary injunction. The order’s reasoning is not publicly available. A denial is not a ruling on who owns the mark; it meant both groups kept operating while the case proceeded.
• May 29: answer and counterclaims by the defendants.
• June 29 and July 13: World Tour Promoters withdrew its USPTO cancellation petition, and the Board terminated the proceeding with cancellation “denied without prejudice.” That was a procedural ending, not a decision on ownership.
• August 25: Law360 reported that NASKA Inc. was arguing that a jury should decide whether the promoter group could claim ownership of the trademark.
• September 2026: the case went to a jury trial in Orlando during the court’s September trial term, and the parties report that the jury returned its verdict on September 25.

What did the jury decide?

As of this writing the verdict form and any judgment have not been published in a publicly accessible docket, so the only accounts available are the parties’ own. They agree that a jury ruled on September 25. They describe its meaning very differently.

World Tour Promoters says a six-person jury was asked a series of specific questions and answered one in the affirmative: that Larry Carnahan had explicit authority to transfer ownership of the NASKA service marks from the Association to a Minnesota corporation he formed in 1989. That finding, it says, would allow Carnahan’s more recently formed Minnesota corporation, NASKA Inc., to claim ownership of the marks. It says no damages have been assessed and no other relief awarded, and that further trial and appellate proceedings remain.

NASKA Inc. says the jury “unanimously ruled in our favor, stopping the breakaway promoters from using the NASKA name,” and that NASKA, “with Hunter Lyon as President and Mr. Carnahan as Chairman of the Board,” will be the only NASKA from now on.

Both accounts are consistent with a jury finding that supports NASKA Inc.’s ownership claim. Whether that finding has yet been turned into a judgment or an order barring the defendants from using the name is what the two statements disagree about, and this journal has not been able to confirm it from the court record. We will update this article when the verdict form and any post-trial orders are available.

What does NASKA Inc. say?

What does World Tour Promoters say?

The reference to “secret agreements” is World Tour Promoters’ characterization. The agreements it refers to have not been published, and NASKA Inc. has not publicly responded to that claim. The statement also describes Carnahan appointing Lyon in March 2026; during the dispute the World Tour Promoters side had separately announced, on its own website, that Mike McCoy had been elected NASKA president. That site is no longer online.

What is the Open World Tour?

In the same statement World Tour Promoters announced a new circuit, the Open World Tour, which it says “will promote and sanction tournaments around the globe.” Its website, theopenworldtour.com (registered September 25, 2026), brands it the Open World Tour Martial Arts Association and lists a 2027 schedule of eight events:

NASKA Inc. says its 2027 calendar will be published soon and that its 2026 champions will be honored at the 2027 AKA Warrior Cup in January.

Which tournaments are in which camp?

The public calendars have not been a reliable guide: during 2026 both sides published substantially the same NASKA schedule. The more dependable evidence is the court record and the new 2027 calendars.

• Defendants and counterclaimants: the U.S. Open, AmeriKick, the Battle of Atlanta, the Ocean State Grand Nationals and the Toronto event are tied to companies that are defendants and counterclaimants; the Quebec Open’s company is a defendant.
• Open World Tour 2027: Pan American, Compete, Ocean State, Battle of Atlanta, U.S. Open, AmeriKick, Cowboy Up and Toronto.
• Listed by World Tour Promoters as affiliates: in a corporate disclosure filed in the case, World Tour Promoters also listed as affiliates the companies behind the Diamond Nationals (JLB Productions, co-owned by Carnahan and John Worley), the U.S. Capitol Classics and the AKA Warrior Cup, whose promoter is Hunter Lyon. An affiliate disclosure is not a statement of loyalty in the dispute, and those three events do not appear on the Open World Tour’s 2027 schedule.
• NASKA Inc.: the AKA Warrior Cup will host NASKA’s 2026 awards banquet in January 2027.

Promoters’ final choices for 2027 may not be clear until both calendars are complete.

Why does it matter to school owners and competitors?

For most schools, NASKA matters through its ratings. World points decide world champions and seeding, and the prestige of a NASKA title is what brings competitors, sponsors and teams to the tour. Two circuits running in 2027 mean two ratings tables, two sets of champions and a question every competition team and parent will ask: which events count?

• Check each event’s sanction for 2027 before you commit a team’s travel budget.
• Keep your own records of your students’ results and points, whichever circuit they compete on.
• Explain the split plainly to parents. The events, the rings and the competitors are largely the same people they were in 2025.
• Watch the post-trial record. Any judgment, injunction or appeal will decide who may use the NASKA name, which is separate from where the best competitors choose to go.

How NASKA came to this point, a promoter compact built on a magazine’s ratings and run for 38 years by one president, is the subject of the rest of this series, beginning with From Karate Illustrated to NASKA.

Frequently asked questions

What is the NASKA lawsuit?

North American Sport Karate Association Inc. v. World Tour Promoters, LLC, et al., No. 6:26-cv-00752 (M.D. Fla.), a federal trademark case filed April 7, 2026 over ownership and use of the NASKA name. The defendants include World Tour Promoters, Mike McCoy and the companies behind the U.S. Open, AmeriKick, the Battle of Atlanta, the Ocean State Grand Nationals, the Quebec Open and the Toronto event.

Who won the NASKA trial?

The parties report that a jury returned a verdict on September 25, 2026 in NASKA Inc.’s favor on at least one question: that Larry Carnahan had explicit authority to transfer the NASKA marks to the Minnesota corporation he formed in 1989. NASKA Inc. says the verdict stops the breakaway promoters from using the name; World Tour Promoters says it is only phase one, that no damages or other relief have been awarded, and that it will challenge the verdict.

Who owns the NASKA trademark?

U.S. Registration No. 7,721,429 for NASKA is registered to North American Sport Karate Association Inc., a Minnesota corporation. World Tour Promoters disputes that ownership; its USPTO cancellation petition was withdrawn and terminated without prejudice in July 2026, and the federal case continues.

Who is the president of NASKA?

NASKA Inc. says Hunter B. Lyon is president and Larry Carnahan, president from 1988, is chairman of the board. World Tour Promoters had claimed that Mike McCoy was elected president; it has since launched a separate circuit, the Open World Tour.

What is the Open World Tour?

A new sport martial arts circuit announced by World Tour Promoters after the verdict. Its 2027 schedule lists the Pan American Internationals, Compete Nationals, Ocean State Grand Nationals, Battle of Atlanta, U.S. Open, AmeriKick Internationals, Cowboy Up and Toronto Internationals.

Did the court grant NASKA an injunction?

Judge Presnell denied NASKA Inc.’s request for a preliminary injunction on May 1, 2026. Whether any injunction or judgment has followed the September verdict has not been confirmed in the public record.