Major League Baseball Claims Dodgers Still Own Trademark On Brooklyn Logo, Despite Leaving Town 53 Years Ago

from the brooklyn-bums dept

A few folks sent in the story from the NY Daily News saying that the Los Angeles Dodgers had filed a lawsuit against the owners of Brooklyn Burger, for using a version of the old stylized "Brooklyn" logo as part of its own logo: Of course, (not surprisingly) it appears that the NY Daily News account is not accurate. Apparently it's actually Major League Baseball who put in the claim "on behalf of the Dodgers." It's also not quite a lawsuit, but just an opposition to the trademark filed by the burger place. MLB's reasoning is the standard cop out from companies asserting trademark claims in questionable situations, as they say "oh we have to do this."

"As MLB, we are obligated by law to protect our trademarks or we are at risk of losing them."

Of course, this ignores the bigger point, which is that the Dodgers left Brooklyn in 1957 and haven't used the logo since then. On top of that, it's not at all clear that the Dodger's original trademarked logo would cover food at all. And, of course, it's not as if anyone (moron in a hurry or not) would rush by the Brooklyn Burger restaurant and think "gee, the Dodgers have opened a restaurant!" The whole thing feels like yet another (in a long line of) intellectual property overreaches by Major League Baseball.

Filed Under: brooklyn, dodgers, trademark
Companies: brooklyn burger, major league baseball