Baseball fans and New York Yankee haters may enjoy this trademark infringement battle going on between the Yankees and a couple selling anti-Yankees memorabilia. Yankee haters often refer to the team as the “Evil Empire,” referring to its large payroll and ability to outbid other teams when acquiring baseball players. The Yankees are claiming that the Evil Empire phrase both infringes on the team’s own trademarks and negatively affects the team.
The couple’s merchandise features common New York Yankee logos with added details like a cartoon devil or a pitchfork to enhance the “evilness” of the regular logos. While the Yankees possess valid trademarks on their regular logos, the couple’s versions may be enough of a satire of the regular trademark to avoid being guilty of trademark infringement.
Another issue is whether the Yankees should be able to complain about the phrase Evil Empire itself. The phrase has its roots in a speech by President Reagan referring to the Soviet Union. This was around 20 years before the Red Sox CEO used the phrase to refer to the Yankees and their acquisition of pitcher Jose Contreras.
The Yankees are also claiming that consumers will likely confuse the Evil Empire merchandise as coming from authentic Yankees retailers. How likely do you think that is? The team claims that the average fan will assume that the Evil Empire clothing is official Yankees clothing. Evidently the Yankees are arguing that they have become so associated with the phrase Evil Empire that they should be able to dictate its use.
Klein Trial Lawyers – Los Angeles business litigation attorneys