THR, Esq. Entertainment & Media Law Blog

Dr Pepper's Fizzy Response To 'Chinese Democracy' Shakeup

By Eriq Gardner

Surely, the Dr Pepper Snapple Group can come up with a better response than this to charges it didn't make good on an advertising campaign to give away free sodas if Guns N Roses released its long-delayed "Chinese Democracy" album:

“We are disappointed that GNR’s lawyers are turning a fun giveaway into a legal dispute. We simply commented on the delayed release of Chinese Democracy and openly encouraged the band to release it before the end of the year. Axl even expressed support for our efforts earlier in the year.”

The company actually is fairly lucky that frontman Axl Rose showed a sense of humor and only wants the company to make good on its promise. There are many musicians who would unleash their lawyers at the first hint of trademark misappropriation and the impression of a product endorsement.Take 50 Cent's battle with Taco Bell for instance.

Godzilla's Trademark Wrath Of Destruction

By Eriq Gardner

Who could possibly be more litigious than the lawyers who stopped the city of Louisville from holding a Dr. Seuss holiday celebration?

Wired's Threat Level gives one possible nomination: Godzilla's lawyers.

Earlier this year, we noted that Toho Co., the Japanese company that owns the trademark and copyright rights to Godzilla, sued sandwich chain Subway over an allegedly infringing advertising campaign. (The dispute was settled.) Toho has been up to a lot more recently, including attacks on Napa Valley wineries, Yankee Stadium vendors, bloggers, book publishers and this month, a rock band called Asshole Godzilla.

Still, many in the entertainment community may envy the licensing success enjoyed by Toho. It reported about $66 million in profits from licensing Godzilla just in the first half of this year.

Wired identifies the company's U.S. trademark counsel as Aaron Moss and Charles Shephard at Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles. Shepard apparently has a poster in his office that says,"If you thought Godzilla was scary, wait until you meet his lawyers."

How The Lawyers Stole Christmas

By Eriq Gardner

The city of Louisville planned to take "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" as inspiration for its holiday season celebration, dressing up the town in costumed characters from various Dr. Seuss classics.

But one suit, two suit, blue suit, lawsuit. Lawyers at DLA Piper, representing Dr. Seuss Enterprises, quickly fired off cease-and-desist letters to the city, helpfully noting these Seuss icons are protected intellectual property.

Christmas hasn't been cancelled in Louisville. But the city has changed the display on the decorations from ""LouWhoVille," to "Lou-ville," presumably to avoid being "Sued-ville."

'Borat' Gets Taste Of His Own Medicine

By Eriq Gardner

When Fox brought "Borat" into theaters, it was flooded with an avalanche of fraud and rights-of-publicity lawsuits from plaintiffs who claimed they had been duped into appearing in the faux documentary. (Here, here, and here.)

Now one clever film producer has evidently turned the tables on Sasha Baron Cohen and his gang by coming out with a film called "Carmen Meets Borat," a story about a 17-year-old Romanian girl whose plan to emigrate to Spain falls to pieces when an American film crew descends on her village to shoot the "Borat" film.

The film is premiering at a film festival in Amsterdam next week, and the website includes a detailed synopsis that even jests at the above-mentioned failed lawsuits: "When the film is released, the world press throws itself on the village and jealousy and suspicion predominate. The chaos is made complete when an American lawyer holds out the prospect of a $30 million insurance claim to the villagers."

Now the question is whether Fox will allow the "Borat" franchise to be exploited by a renegade filmmaker. And just in case any trademark lawyers at the studio haven't been following the international scene and weren't aware of the film, the makers of "Carmen Meets Borat" have taken out advertisements inviting Cohen to the premiere.

'Gone In 60 Seconds' Car Is Back with 9th Circuit Win

By Eriq Gardner

It's not every day that an appeals court makes the point that an automobile can be seen like a "comic book character" and is deserving of similar copyright and trademark protection.

But on last week the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the "Eleanor," a customized yellow 1971 Fastback Ford Mustang seen in the original 1974 film "Gone in 60 Seconds," is such a vehicle. The decision vacated summary judgments made by lower courts and sent a case involving copyright and trademark claims over "Eleanor" back down for further consideration.

The plaintiff is Denice Halicki, the widow of H.B. "Toby" Halicki, who directed, produced, acted in, and marketed the original "Gone in 60 Seconds" film. Since then, the original "Eleanor" has been a hit at car shows and has been turned into toy cars and featured on baseball caps. Halicki also optioned rights to the film to Hollywood Pictures, a division of Disney, in 1995, and five years later, the studio produced a remake that starred Nicolas Cage.

That film, however, featured a 1967 Shelby GT-500, a variant of the Ford Mustang developed by Carroll Shelby. In the remake, the car was also called "Eleanor," and soon Shelby exploited her creation, licensing Unique Motorcars to produce reproductions.

That's when Halicki sued Shelby and others, arguing that in her contract with Hollywood Pictures, she expressly reserved her rights over Eleanor.

The district court didn't seem to think much of this claim, but the 9th Circuit has more respect for the sanctity of cars that play the role of "Leading Lady." Here's the decision.

More On That Batty Lawsuit: Do the Turks Have a Case?

By Eriq Gardner

By now, news that the city of Batman, Turkey is suing Warner Bros. and "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan has spread wildly — and we weren't the only ones laughing about it.

But Warners shouldn't shrug it off entirely either.

After all, Europe has a long history of litigious rights-holders who derive their trademark claims from geographic lineage. The most famous example is the Czech city, Ceske Budejovice—abbreviated as Budweis—that has fought America's Anheuser-Busch for more than a century over the rights to "Budweiser." This dispute is crazy complicated and has provoked court decisions in more jurisdictions around the world than possibly any single legal dispute in human history. (From Sweden down to Africa to South Korea and everywhere else.)

Similarly, Champagne, Bordeaux wine, Roquefort cheese and Parma ham are just a few of the regional trademarks that inspire special protection in Europe.

Of course, as is clear by the examples, Europeans are particularly fussy about their food and wine. But still, it's worth noting that many European courts won't find the idea of Batman, Turkey, suing to protect its name as ridiculous as many in Hollywood might.

Jokers in City Of Batman Take Lead in Craziest Lawsuit Awards Race

By Eriq Gardner

"The Dark Knight" is just getting ready for a serious run at a best picture Oscar, but already the film is the subject of the front-runner in the stupidest lawsuit of the year contest. 

The city of Batman, located in southeastern Turkey, is suing "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. to protect what it claims is its trademark in the word "Batman."

Considering the Batman character first appeared in comics in 1939 and the TV series debuted in 1959, we're wondering, what took so long?

According to the Batman Mayor Hüseyin Kalkan, the city started looking into legal avenues after economic problems led to an increasing suicide rate among women, leading to a local reporter suggesting an innovative way to fill city coffers — sue the caped crusader!

“We found this criticism right and started to look for legal possibilities of a case like that,” he said.

MORE: More On That Batty Lawsuit: Do the Turks Have a Case?

The Point Of Video Games Is What? And Who Really Invented 'Totally Nude'?

By Eriq Gardner

In Albert Brooks' 1991 film "Defending Your Life," the protagonist dies in a car accident and goes to Judgment City, where he argues his fate inside a courtroom. During one scene, he runs into another deceased individual who claims to have invented the familiar strip-club catch-phrase, "Totally Nude."

This may seem totally far-fetched, but in 2005, E.S.S., the owner of a Los Angeles gentleman’s club known as the Play Pen, sued Rockstar Games, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto. In the San Andreas version of the game, one of the locales is a strip club named “Pig Pen” where players can, among other things in the game, take a break from crashing cars and hang out. Outside "Pig Pen" are the words "Totally Nude" — both in the game and in real life — and E.S.S. claimed that RockStar had ripped off its trademark and trade dress.

Last week, the Ninth Circuit reviewed the case after a lower court had granted summary judgment to Rockstar based on its defense of fair use.

Its verdict?

'Soul Men' Defamatory? Another Weinstein Project Legal Claim

By Eriq Gardner

Grammy-winning singer Sam Moore's lawyer has sent cease-and-desist letters to The Weinstein Co., claiming that its upcoming comedy "Soul Men" is a thinly-veiled portrayal of the career of Moore and former music partner Dave Prater.

The letters claim the film, starring Samuel L Jackson and the late Bernie Mac, is defamatory and infringes the trademark over the duo's most famous song, "Soul Man." The film is filled with sex and course language, and Moore particularly objects to one sex scene concerning false teeth. Moore's lawyer says that litigation is a "last resort."

"Months ago, we received Mr Moore's claim and told him he had none," says Bert Fields, representing TWC.

Speaking of current Weinstein movies, it's apropos that on the 40th anniversary of the MPAA's movie ratings system, Kevin Smith's "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" has been having a bit of trouble with censors.

Many newspapers and TV stations are refusing to accept ads for the R-rated film. Some theaters won't screen it, and others have cut out the words "Make a Porno." The box office returns this past weekend were decent (it took in $10.7 million), but rival distributors say that TWC might be too optimistic on its Sunday numbers.

Add all this to the Project Runway troubles, and surely Harvey Weinstein has been keeping close concert with his lawyers of late, and we know Bert Fields isn't cheap.

Making Music Is Not About Charity. Ask Bryan Adams.

By Eriq Gardner

Copyright owners rarely seem flattered when their nearly forgotten works are brought back from the dead.

Witness Bryan Adams. Apparently, the Canadian singer has launched a campaign to snuff out fan sites that use his likeness without authorization. Adams has hired a service called Web Sheriff to crack down on sites like bryanadamsfanclub.nl, bryanadams.nu and badfan.com, that abuse the his copyrights. The sites were taken down until they can agree to a set of guidelines that will allow them to "happily coexist" with Adams.

The Web Sheriff is even targeting a cover band called The Bryan Adams Experience. Apparently, the singer wants them to be called The Bryan Adams Tribute Experience.

The number of musicians who aren't happy about misappropriated songs used in political campaigns also grows larger and larger by the day.

Lawyers and Word Games Coming To Facebook

By Eriq Gardner

For those still pining over the loss of Scrabulous on Facebook, some good news.

One of Scabulous' founders reports that an Indian Court has ruled that game itself doesn't violate Mattel's intellectual property rights. The ruling was a mixed one, however, as the court also enjoined the company from using the "Scrabulous" name due to trademark infringement. Mattel filed the lawsuit back in February 2008.

In other news, Facebook has recruited a bonafied legal heavy to its team. Ted Ullyot, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and ex-chief of staff to former U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales, has joined the company as general counsel.

Comedian's Humorless Battle Against 'Family Guy' Enters Eighth Year

By Eriq Gardner

Comedian and actor Art Metrano continues to hound "Family Guy" for ripping off his routines.

Metrano, who is best known for performing magic on "The Tonight Show" in the 1970s and later starring as Capt. Mauser in two "Police Academy" films, has made a habit of filing lawsuits in Los Angeles against makers of the animated show. In 2000, he sued Fox Broadcasting, only to withdraw his complaint. Last year, he sued 20th Century Fox for producing a spin-off film entitled "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story," only to withdraw the complaint again in March. According to a document filed at the time, the two parties "initiated discussions potentially to resolve this matter."

Those negotiations apparently were fruitless as Metrano has refiled his $2 million lawsuit against 20th Century Fox yet again.

Metrano has a tough road ahead. Intellectual property has rarely protected comedians against joke theft. In fact, Metrano has attempted and failed to register his routine with the Copyright Office. (He's appealing.) And Metrano may wish to consult with Carol Burnett about how her legal squibble with "Family Guy" went.

Last year, TMZ posted a comparison between Metrano's routine and Stewie's vision of Jesus. Theft or parody? You be the judge.

D-List Celebrities Can Be As Litigious a the A-List

By Eriq Gardner

Steven Tyler isn't the only celebrity suing over an artificial online presence.

Now, Kathy Griffin, star of Bravo's "My Life on the D-List," has taken the company that owns KathyGriffin.com to court, claiming it is making money off her name and image.

How much is a D-List celebrity's name worth these days? Griffin claims $100,000 in damages.

India's Hari Puttar Triumphs Over Warners' Harry Potter

By Eriq Gardner

So much for Warner Bros.' attempt to waive its magic legal wand and make Hari Puttar go away.

The Delhi High Court has ruled that an Indian film called "Hari Puttar -- A Comedy of Terrors" doesn't infringe upon the "Harry Potter" trademark. The court says there's unlikely to be trademark confusion as Harry Potter readers are sufficiently educated to know the difference between the two franchises.

According to the lawyer representing the defendant, the court also slapped Warner Bros. on the wrist by saying it has known about the Indian film since 2005 and yet delayed its lawsuit until shortly before Hari Puttar was scheduled to be released in theaters.

Rockstars and Republicans Don't See Eye-to-Eye on Copyright Rules

By Eriq Gardner

The quadrennial event known as the presidential election serves two purposes: elect a leader of the free world and, with apologies to Neil Young, keep them from rockin' in the free world.

Over at Politico, Suz Redfearn has a very good story on how "cease-and-desist letters from musicians have rained down like confetti on Republicans over the years."

Redfearn analyzes whether copyright authority allows musicians such as Heart, Van Halen, and John Mellencamp to prevent their non-preferred politicians from using their songs as campaign music.

So, what's the answer?

Doors and Santana Settle Against Memorabilia Website

By Eriq Gardner

The Doors and Carlos Santana, two of the plaintiffs in the big copyright infringement lawsuit against Bill Graham Archive, have settled their claims, according to a filing in federal court in San Jose.

In 2002, William Sagan purchased for $6 million memorabilia and concert tapes created and collected by famed concert promoter Bill Graham. They were then sold on Wolfgangsvault.com. In 2006, many musicians from the 1960s and 1970s heyday of rock sued, claiming the website violated their copyrights and trademarks.

Even without the Doors and Carlos Santana, the lawsuit continues. The settlement agreement doesn't include plaintiffs including Grateful Dead Production, Led Zeppelin members, and others.

Harry Potter vs. Hari Puttar. Yes, Really

By Eriq Gardner

It's only been a few months since it absorbed New Line Cinema, but Warner Bros.seems to want to take the title of "most litigated blockbuster franchise" away from New Line's "Lord of the Rings." Today brings word that Warners is suing to stop the release of an Indian film called "Hari Puttar -- A Comedy of Terrors," which the studio claims is too close to that boy-whiz named "Harry Potter."

The case will be argued at the Bombay High Court today.

Mirchi Movies, which produced the film, says it registered the title in 2005 and the film bears no similarity. In "Hari Puttar," a boy moves to England with his parents and is involved in a battle over a secret microchip. Hari is a popular Indian name while Puttar means son in Punjabi.

Close The Doors, Please No Breaking Through To The Other Side

By Eriq Gardner

Who can imagine The Doors without Jim Morrison singing lead? Not the California Supreme Court, which has enjoined keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robert Krieger from using the name when performing, touring, and promoting whatever their band will be called now. Both original members of The Doors can also forget about calling themselves The Doors of the 21st Century. The court has nixed that moniker too.

The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by drummer John Densmore and the estate of Jim Morrison and his late wife.

"This dispute was about protecting the integrity and legacy of what The Doors stood for," said S. Jerome Mandel, litigation counsel for plaintiffs. "From their inception they viewed each other as equal members. Unlike most other rock groups, their policy was to share equally all song writing credits and royalties, regardless of who wrote the music or lyrics."

Maybe Manzarek and Krieger can call themselves Jefferson Starship. Oh wait.

The Legal Art Of Backing Off

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Just a couple of updates to some stories we've been following.

It first appeared that Facebook had decided to shut down Scrabulous after Hasbro sued the makers of the widget. But it turns out that Facebook has taken a cautious approach, forwarding Hasbro's take-down notice to Scrabulous, who decided to pull the plug on their own to the popular application. So no need to read any implications in how social-networking sites are responding to DMCA threats from this...just yet.

In other news, the lawyer who sued his hometown newspaper for fraud after they cut news staff has dropped the suit. Seems like he made his point, and after meeting with the newspaper's management, he's in the process of writing an opinion piece about the state of the newspaper industry for the same newspaper.

Hasbro Finally S-U-E-S Over Scrabulous

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Hasbro looked hard at the board and after more than a half a year of squabbling, finally figured out how to spell "lawsuit." The maker of Scrabble is suing two Indian brothers behind the popular Facebook application Scrabulous, claiming the game infringes the company’s intellectual property. It's hoping for triple-word-score damages.

Scrabulous, which let its users play an online simulation of the popular board game Scrabble, has earned a devoted following of more than 840,000 users and its removal sparked a tremendous “Save Scrabulous” backlash.

Legal experts point to the Copyright Office’s guidelines on the copyrighting of board games to note that the “underlying idea of a game can’t be copyrighted.” Certain bits of expression, like the board game diagram and the tile pieces, are copyrightable,  but Hasbro’s best claim may be on trademark rights.

The key question is what happens to Facebook. Hasbro asked Facebook to remove the game under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For a while, it seemed the company had complied but the game popped up again.

PerezRevenge: Is Perez Hilton the Victim of a Reverse Domain Hijacking?

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Blogger-personality Perez Hilton is used to being on the receiving end of litigation. But today he's suing the operators of a website who he claims are trying to piggyback off of his famous name. In this complaint filed in U.S. District Court in California, Hilton (born Mario Lavandeira) is suing Infuse and several individuals behind perezrevenge.com, a Hollywood gossip blog that has a similar look to the original and, of course, uses Perez in its domain name.

Hilton is famous for posting photos of stars and marking them up with his own special form of snark. He's been sued by celebrity photo agencies X17Online and PhotoNews for publishing copyrighted photos without permission. (The case with X17 was settled.)

In Hilton’s complaint against Infuse, he alleges unfair competition, federal dilution of trademark, unfair trade practices, and violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. He seeks injunctive relief and is represented by Bryan Freedman at Freedman & Taitelman in Los Angeles.

'Dr. Grave' Comic Book Now Subject of Serious Litigation

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Edward Clayton, the creator of the comic book "Dr. Grave," is suing Halo Entertainment, claiming Halo breached an agreement, violated his trademark, and misrepresented itself as owner of the film rights to the comic book character.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District court in California on Monday. According to the complaint, Clayton signed an agreement with Halo in 2002 and another in 2004. Those deals gave Halo the right to act as a producer on a film version of "Dr. Grave" and "to obtain a commitment from a motion picture studio or other financier...for development of a proposed film." The agreement also came with an Option for an extension.

In 2004 and 2005, Halo was approached by Jersey Films to make a "Dr. Grave" film. Clayton wanted the deal, but Halo decided to pass. Instead, in 2006, Halo entered into an agreement with Gigapix Studios, where Halo allegedly received $50,000. Clayton says he got none of that.

The complaint is a bit hazy on what happened next.

Warner Bros. Wins 'Weird' Harry Potter Case

Posted by Eriq Gardner

UPDATED POST

In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the gang of young wizards attends a school dance where they rock the night away to the sounds of the band, The Weird Sisters. Don't worry if you missed it. The scene was brief and even though the band was fronted by icons of British rock, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, the name of the band was never mentioned.

Still, The Weird Sisters appeared in J.K. Rowling's book and in publicity materials for the film, and thus, a Canadian folk trio who calls themselves the Wyrd Sisters sued, claiming trademark infringement. The Juno Award-nominated group said that the movie was likely to confuse the marketplace and sought $40 million in damages. In response, Warner Bros. pointed out that the band name was a reference to William Shakespeare's Macbeth and submitted a sworn affidavit stating that the name was not used in the film or on the soundtrack.

During initial proceedings in 2005-06, a court threw out the suit and ordered the plaintiffs to pay $140,000 in court costs.

UPDATE: A legal news service erroneously posted the original decision stemming from the initial 2005 hearings. According to other press accounts, the folk band is now alleging improper conduct on the part of judges in that case and earlier this year, filed a new suit asking for the the destruction of all DVDs, CDs, video games and other items that refer to a musical act named The Weird Sisters. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers is demanding the $140,000 judgment from the first decision. In the original post, we regretfully quoted from the original decision and wrongfully cited Warner Bros. legal representation.

How To Register Trademark On A Movie Title

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Troy & Gould's Jonathan Handel has an interesting column in LA Lawyer mag about the trademarking of single-work movie titles like "40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Reservoir Dogs." He notes that under case law and U.S. Trademark Office decree, films that are part of a series of works, like "Harry Potter," are eligible for trademark protection, but that titles like "Pulp Fiction" are likely to get rejected.

Recently, Handel sent the USPTO a letter asking them about their implementation of its prohibition on the trademarking of single-work titles. Lynne Beresford, commissioner for trademarks, wrote back saying that the office "implements the refusal to register titles of a single work to the best of its ability" and that the office has "no interest in suggestions that purport to—or actually do—subvert laws and court decisions."

Nevertheless, Handel offers his suggestions to protect movie titles, including registering for a state trademark, filing a federal intent-to-use application for a film sequel, or registering a trademark oversees. It's a helpful read.

Godzilla Attacks Subway!

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The giant-sized prehistoric dragon-like monster might have reached the apex of its popularity in the 1950s, but Godzilla's legal appetite continues to roar.

Toho Co., the Japanese company that owns the trademark and copyright rights to Godzilla, is now suing Subway after the sandwich chain prominently featured an advertising campaign during the 2008 NCAA basketball tournament (sports fans probably saw the ads featuing an angry Godzilla attacking a Japanese city then endorsing Subway).

"Defendants never sought or obtained Toho's permission to use Godzilla in the television commercial," says the complaint, filed by Charles Shephard and Aaron Moss at Greenberg Glusker in LA. "Immediately after learning of the commercial, Toho demanded that Doctor's Associates (Subway's parent company) cease and desist from further broadcasting the commercial. It refused."

Toho emerges from the sea to feed on infringers every now and then. Five years ago, the company attacked a small blog whose suffix unfortunately ended in "zilla." Ten years ago, in an eery foreshadow of the recent Harry Potter lawsuit, Toho fought and prevailed against the publisher of a Godzilla encyclopedia.

Mark Burnett Punches Back at Producer of Spanish 'Contender'

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Mark Burnett Prods and DreamWorks Television have decided to put on their boxing gloves and step inside the courtroom to become competidores against a Hispanic production company they claim has ripped off a Spanish-language version of "The Contender."

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Contender Partners (the joint company formed by Mark Burnett and DreamWorks) claims that they licensed two seasons of "The Contender" to Azteca International for dubbed broadcast. Later, Burnett's company pitched Azteca on a Spanish-language version of the boxing reality show to be shown on the Discovery Channel.

But the complaint alleges that "Azteca Defendants secretly contacted Discovery and proposed that the two networks co-produce a new Spanish-language version of "The Contender" called "Retador Azteca" that not only infringed the trademarked names for 'The Contender' but also copied the same theme, format, and concept of 'The Contender.'"

Discovery declined the offer for "Retador" (which means contender in Spanish), but Azteca began broadcasting episodes of its new program anyway on its own network.

The plaintiffs, represented by John Gatti at Greenburg Traurig in LA, are seeking an injunction and three times actual damages.

 

Beach Boys Sending Each Other Good Vibrations Again

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Could the end of a long-running legal squabble lead to the reunification of The Beach Boys?

Yesterday, lawyers announced a settlement over seven years of litigation over rights to the band name. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

In 2001, group member Al Jardine sued former bandmate Mike Love for $4 million, alleging Love excluded him from concerts that year. Superior Court Judge James R. Dunn dismissed the case, and allowed Love to sue Jardine when the latter singer started touring using the Beach Boys' name. In 2003, a court ruled that only Love had the right to use the Beach Boys name but Jardine began performing under similar monikers including Beach Boys Family & Friends and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys. Lawsuits continued and last year, Judge Dunn rejected Love's motion for summary judgment and ordered the case to trial.

The other surviving member of the original Beach Boys is Brian Wilson. Could the three reunite?

"Certainly everybody would love it, but we're taking it a day at a time," Jardine's attorney, Lawrence Noble, told Reuters. "We've cleared out a lot of negative history, we're looking forward to the future, and hopefully a lot of good things will happen.

Major League Baseball Issues Ultimatum to Amateur League Over Trademarks

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Major League Baseball is again throwing a brushback pitch on the trademark front. The league is demanding that six teams in the amateur Cape Cod Baseball League who share nicknames with professional ballclubs purchase uniforms and souvenir merchandise from MLB-licensed vendors.

As pointed out by Techdirt, MLB does give the Cape Cod League a $100,000 annual grant. The amateur league will now have to decide whether this grant is worth the new price, which also includes a demanded 11 percent royalty on sales next summer of existing inventory from the six affected Cape League teams.

Even if Cape Cod doesn't capitulate, it might face an interesting trademark suit over whether these names are protectable. Currently, the two leagues have franchises with shared nicknames including A's, Red Sox, Mariners, Braves, Mets and Cardinals. Something tells us a certain football franchise in Arizona might wish to pay attention to this.