Despite having its name since 1915, the Cleveland Indians bowed to the woke mob and announced last year it would be changing its name. The move came two years after political correctness killed Chief Wahoo. But after settling on the "Guardians," the MLB team is facing a legal problem.
The city is only big enough for one "Cleveland Guardians."
That's the argument of a greater Cleveland area roller derby team that's used the name since 2013 and is now suing over trademark infringement.
"A Major League club cannot simply take a smaller team's name and use it for itself," the lawsuit says. "Economic might, however, does not make legal right. There cannot be two 'Cleveland Guardians' teams in Cleveland, and, to be blunt, Plaintiff was here first."
The coed roller derby team, which operates in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio, has been called the Guardians since 2013 and formally registered the name “Cleveland Guardians” with the Ohio secretary of state in 2017, according to its lawsuit filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
In the lawsuit, Guardians Roller Derby v. Cleveland Guardians Baseball Company L.L.C., the roller derby team claims that the M.L.B. team knew the Guardians existed months before the name change was announced.
The lawsuit also claims the M.L.B. team filed its trademark application in Mauritius, a small East African island nation, and that in doing so the baseball team was “effectively hiding the application unless one knew where to look.” (NYT)
According to the lawsuit, the MLB contacted the roller derby team, letting them know they chose the "Guardians." During discussions, the roller derby team offered to sell rights to their name, plus their website (ClevelandGuardians.com) and asked the team to make an offer, which turned out to be a "nominal amount." The roller derby team rejected it and made a counter-offer, which the MLB team never responded to.
The (formerly) Indians "believe there is no conflict between the parties and their ability to operate in their respective business areas," but clearly, the roller derby team disagrees.
"Major League Baseball would never let someone name their lacrosse team the 'Chicago Cubs' if the team was in Chicago, or their soccer team the 'New York Yankees' if that team was in New York — nor should they," said Christopher Pardo, the lead lawyer for the roller derby team, according to the Times. "The same laws that protect Major League Baseball from the brand confusion that would occur in those examples also operate in reverse to prevent what the Indians are trying to do here."
