Chicago Cubs tear into US trademark filing

Professional baseball team the Chicago Cubs have opposed a trademark filing made by a company in the US.

The Chicago Cubs filed the notice of opposition at the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on October 17 against a trademark filed by Copy Clear.

Copy Clear filed its trademark for “licensing of intellectual property in the field of copyrights” at the USPTO in October last year, and it was published in April this year.

It cites class 45, which covers personal and social services, including security services for the protection of property.

The baseball team opposed the application because its design, which features a prominent capital ‘C’, is used in the club’s own trademark for sporting goods, baseball games and paper goods.

The Chicago Cubs own a number of international trademark applications featuring the ‘C’ mark.

They have owned the marks, which cover classes 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18 and 20, since before 2012, when Copy Clear claimed first use.

The team have also owned marks at the USPTO for the terms ‘Wrigley Field Home of Chicago Cubs’ and ‘Chicago Cubs’, which were registered in May 1989 and September 1990.

According to the Chicago Cubs, Copy Clear’s applied-for mark is “virtually identical” to its own ‘C’ marks, adding that the application is likely “to cause confusion, to cause mistake, and to deceive the trade and public”.

The suit added that the “opposer would thereby be injured by the granting to applicant of a certificate of registration for applicant’s mark” and would be “damaged” if the registration was granted.

The Chicago Cubs were first known as White Stockings and were one of the founding members of the National League in 1876.

Steven O'Donnell, founding attorney at the Law Office of Steven O'Donnell and the attorney representing Copy Clear, told WIPR that the parties are talking and hope to have the case resolved soon.