Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Didn't have to change it in the 1st place.They were named in honor a native american,think it was two but the Braves say hello.But crap c'mon Roller Derby team didn't coin the phrase,name Guardian,how about the Alarm Company sue the Roller Derby team-I would.How many Wildcats are there in CFB,chew on that one - hope it gets tossed,but I don't care for the Guardian name either.Just so petty and trite

Yes, but it's not clear to me it's a TM violation.  The main criterion is consumer confusion, we have Delta Airlines and Delta Faucets for example because there is no confusion.

Yeah, key of trademark law is that there has to be at least a plausible issue about confusion.

If a guy with the last name Bud created a lighting company, he could call it "Bud Lighting" and not be in danger of violating a trademark. However if (prior to them doing it themselves) a seltzer company owned by a guy with the last name Bud started selling "Bud Seltzer" that would be a violation. 

If the Cleveland Guardians baseball team and the Cleveland Guardians roller derby team both sell merch that says "Cleveland Guardians", even though one is a baseball team and one is a roller derby team it would seem to generate confusion over which team you're reppin' when you wear the merch, right? 

I'd say the roller derby team might have a case, and they might get a nice fat payoff to change their own name. And if they want to keep the name and not settle, well then the baseball team would be forced to change it. 

Pretty sure the original Cleveland Guardians baseball team predates the Roller Derby team. 

Nevertheless I hope that the roller derby team takes them to the cleaners for knuckling under to cancel culture. 

Ed Zachery CD and theBeisbol team was never called the Guardians - the Forest City's,Spiders,Naps,Indians

take it like a Man, did ya?

Looks like it's pretty complex (as these things usually are):

https://www.bairdholm.com/blog/the-cleveland-guardians-how-a-local-roller-derby-team-may-have-thrown-a-major-league-baseball-team-a-major-curveball/

The roller derby team had never registered the trademark, which is very important. And the roller derby team apparently has been inactive for three years prior to the baseball team announcing the name change, which because they appear to not be an active user of an unregistered trademark, they have no real priority in protecting that mark. 

The point made in that article is pretty solid:

Returning to the question of whether the Cleveland Indians team was aware of the Guardians Roller Derby’s use of the CLEVELAND GUARDIANS mark, in light of the resources of the Cleveland Indians and the bullpen of capable attorneys that the organization presumably has at its disposal, it is unlikely that the Guardians Roller Derby team was absent from the Cleveland Indians’ radar.  Instead, information available to the public may suggest that either (i) discussions and negotiations are ongoing between the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Roller Derby, or (ii) the Cleveland Indians have taken and are confident in the legal position that any suit or opposition by Cleveland Roller Derby would not hold up in court or, in the case of an opposition, before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. 

To not know that there was another entity in the Cleveland area using the name Guardians, particularly since the roller derby team owns "www.clevelandguardians.com", would be a fireable offense for any legal team representing the Indians lol. 


So they have to be pretty confident they're going to prevail. 

They should have changed their name to the Cleveland Gun Grabbers.

I think if you get the vaccine, you're not racist anymore.  Something like that.  It was on CNN. 

Post of the month! Bravo!!