U.S. Baseball Team Sued Over 'Cleveland Guardians' TM

In July 2021, the Major League Baseball team in Cleveland announced it would be changing its name to the ‘Cleveland Guardians,’ after over a century of using the name, the “Cleveland Indians.” Now the baseball club is facing a trademark infringement lawsuit by a Cleveland-based roller derby team, also called the “Cleveland Guardians.” World Intellectual Property Review contacted Finnegan partner Mark Sommers for his thoughts on the lawsuit.

Mark explained that the Cleveland baseball team’s name change occurred to appeal to public opinion, but the team’s alleged secrecy in acquiring the “Cleveland Guardians” name will inevitably face public scrutiny. Mark stated:

“The bad news that the lawsuit delivered was not necessarily that a determination of a likelihood of consumer confusion will be made between these two uses of Cleveland Guardians (the standard of trademark infringement), but that the engagement and discourse between the parties prior to the lawsuit will be placed under a spotlight.”

Noting that negative interactions between parties often affect the court’s decision, Mark added:

“Major professional sports team name changes are magnets for wanted and unwanted attention. As with any high-profile brand owner, the prospect of being sued for trademark infringement is an inherent risk…Case precedents involving sports team renamings will not control the decisions to be made in the Cleveland Guardians case. What those cases teach us is that a name change is a difficult process fraught with problems, as there are very few perfect names, only better or lesser ones—the decade-long saga of the disparaging Washington Redskins name speaks to that.”

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